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ANTAL’S CONTRIBUTION TO BHAKTI POETRY IN TAMIL LITERATURE

Dr.T.Sarada

University of wisconsin-Madison

saradabalaji@gamil.com

Abstract: This paper focuses on the contribution of Antal to the Tamil bhakti Literature. Starting with a brief introduction of bhakti is Tamil literature, the paper analyses the bhakti movement, the tenets of Vaishnavism, and the contribution of the Alvars. This short paper concentrates on certain seminal aspects Antal’s Tiruppavai, and her Nachiyar Thirumozhi. It probes into two major leitmotifs as evident in her compositions: that of the parai in Tiruppavai and the conch in the Nacciyar Tirumoli. The paper also comments upon the uniqueness of the female register in her works and the multiple diatribes that Antal had to wage in a constrictive space.

Bhakti in Tamil Literature:

Any discussion of Tamil literature would undoubtedly begin with the sangam age. Though Antal and the sangam age remain separated by several centuries, it remains crucial for us to trace the genealogy of bhakti in the annals of Tamil literature for a holistic understanding of Antal’s supreme contribution to bhakti movement.

The literature contains numerous references to a religious way of life like the vedic rites, performance of yagnas, praise of Brahmin etc. Besides, there are a plethora of references to Vishnu and Shiva. Scholars opine that these cults, existed in the pre-vedic time like those of the Indus valley civilization. A.L. Bhasham’s The Wonder that was India (1981) also illustrates the surfeit of religious references in the Indus valley civilization. Bhasham’s work is steeped in references to temples, idol-worship, worship of female-goddess, worship of sivalinga, varuna etc. The reference to Vishnu are sparse he says. At one point of time, he is said to have occupied a secondary place after Indira and was have named ‘upendra’. The flying eagle of Harappa is perceived to be a precursor of Vishnu’s garuda.

Since the focus of this paper is on Antal a Vaishnavaite poet, it would be appropriate for us to delineate the worship of the Vishnu cult in the ancient times. Seminal works like Keith’s The Religion and Philosophy of the Vedas (1998) A.A.Macdonell’s Vedic Mythology (1898) and Dhanderkar’s Vishnu in the Veda (1941) contend that Vishnu’s name is involved at least a thousand times in the Vedas, He attained a primal position in the brahmanic times. Ancient Tamil classics also display the worship of Tirumal (Vishnu), Krishna and Baldev. Dr.Subbu Reddiar has aptly pointed to the Vishnu cult in Purananooru (1000BC to 300AD). Kings were akin to Tirumal who was the protector of the universe. The Kurals 610 and 1103 also contain references to this deity. The Tamil epic Silapattikaram (2^nd century AD) contains a multitude of reference to Krishna and Baladeva in the Kaviripoompattinam and Madurai. The records of Magasthenes and the famous Mathura inscription (see Subbureddiar 153) depict the primacy of Vasudeva. Gradually, the cults of Vishnu, Vasudeva and Narayana merged to form Vaishnavism. The spirit of Vaishnavism attained its high water mark during the Bhakti movement.

The Bhakti movement was essentially founded in the Southern parts of India and later spread to the north. A supremely reformist movement which was spread from the 6^th to the 19^th century it included within its ambit, conservatives, radicals, brahmins, sudras and women. ¹ It was a concurrent diatribe against Jainism, Buddhism, brahminical and patriarchal hegemony.

Women saint poets of India attract us specially since the concept of bhakti undergoes numerous ramifications in them, While aptly delineating their dual lives – that of mundane domesticity and their surging spirits, most of the poets display the ensuing tensions and their protest against mundane shackles which impede their spiritual ascensions. While the male bhakta often questions the regular impediments that remain the common fate of humanity at large, women poets additionally question their gendered lives and gendered fates in their too familiar domestic idioms that both bind them and add a unique dimension to their poems.² Among the South Indian women saint poets, two poets stand unique- Karikkal Ammaiyar a Shaivite saint poet and Antal the Vaishnavite saint poet. Karaikhal Ammaiyar is one among the 63 saints nayanmars who had renounced her beauteous form in lieu of ghoulish looks in order to attain union with the Lord. Her seminal compositions include the Thiruvaalangkaatu Mootha Thirupathigangal, Thiruvirattai Manimaalai and Arpudha Thiruvandhaadhi in which she offers benedictions to Siva, the dancer of cemeteries. In terms of her Krishna bhakti, Andal is closer to Mira in using the erotic mode to describe her love for Krishna/Narayana. A.K.Ramanujan’s essay On Women Saints (1999) significantly remarks that “The chief mood of bhakti is the erotic (sringara) , seen almost entirely from an Indian woman’s point of view whether in its phase of separation or union” (Ramanujan:270). Ramanujan further highlights the fact that these feminine personae could be in three forms : as a wife (kanta), illicit lover (parakiya) or trysting woman (abhisarika). The aim of Antal in both her poetic compositions is to become a kanta which is achieved through the divine fusion towards the end of both the poems.

The Alwars were a group of 12 Vaishnavaite poets of the south who composed songs in praise of Lord Vishnu. Despite the conflicting evidences, it is now believed that the Alwars must be placed in a period between the 6^th century AD to the 10^th century AD. Kodhai is the only woman saint among the Alwars. Later apotheosized Antal, she is a ninth century Tamil Vaishnava poet. It is crucial to note that she was penning her soulful composition in a largely inimical domain. At a time when women occupied the mere periphery of domestic, social, political and cultural domains, it is indeed interesting to notice the pioneering efforts made by Antal. Like her predecessors Avvai and Punithavathi (Kaaraikkal Ammai), Antal does not renounce her beauteous form. While the earlier poets consider the body and the physical frame as impediments in the attainment of gnana, Antal deliberately chooses the body as an important vehicle towards transcendence. The milieu in which she penned her two primal works Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli was multiply hostile. Firstly bhakti as a movement was a male turf; secondly the anubhuti was considered appropriate to men as women’s only duty was to be devout to their mortal husbands. Thirdly, the linguistic ground as such had not developed a distinct female vocabulary that could aptly delineate the female registers and a bhakti bhava that was deeply entrenched in the gyno-spiritual domains of feminine experience. It is indeed intriguing to discover the tertiary place meted out to Antal in a patriarchally manipulated history.

Subbu Reddiar’s Religion and Philosophy of Nalayira Divya Prabandham with special reference to Nammalvar (1977) presents an appendix II in page 883 wherein he gives 7 different lists of Alwars. Here is a brief analysis of the list. While the first list of Tiruvarnkatta Muthanar places Antal in the 9^th position after Perialwar, Parasara Battar’s list places Perialwar in the 4^th position, while failing to mention Antal as an alwar at all- a case of probably deliberate erasure from history. The Pinpalakiya Perumal Jiyar’s list places her in the 9^th position after Perialwar. Vedanta Desikar has two lists; the one after his Atikarasankraham places Antal and Perialwar in the 5^th position, whereas the second after Pirapantasaram places her in the 9^th position. Similarly, Manavalamamunigal also has two lists. While the first places Antal in the 11^th position, the second places her in the 2^nd position.

These conflicting views present many interesting facts:

1. Basically it could be consequential of the Indian lack of accurate historical data as in the west which makes it difficult for compilers to fix writers in definitive periods.

2. Parasarabattar’s list mentions Perialwar, but not Antal. Could it be viewed as an attempt to erase Antal from the annals of bhakti poetry?

3. The list also presents the diffidence involved in accepting a young girl of fifteen as a saint poet on accurate of her inferior status as a woman.

Despite the odds, Antal is placed between the 8^th and 10^th century AD. Friedhelm Hardy’s book Viraha Bhakti places Antal in the 9^th century AD. She is the only woman of the 12 Alwar poets whose devotional poems comprise a part of the Naalaayira Divya Prabandham (The Divine Collection of Four Thousand) . Her poems are included in the first thousand verses of the Mudhal Ayiram of the Naalayira Divya Prabandham. Her Tiruppavai consists of 30 verses of the kalippa meter while her Nacciyar Tirumoli consists of five different sets of metrical structures.

Legend has it that Antal (like Sita who was discovered by Janaka) was also a foundling child, discovered by Perialwar or Vishnuchittar beside a tulasi (Holy Indian basil) shrub, on the day of pooram star in the month of Aadi. The priest who wove garlands for Ranganatha everyday nursed the child as his own. Fostered alike by nature and the stories of Ranganatha Leela, Antal’s fondness for Him grew with age. The spiritual union of Antal with her divine consort had taken place much early in her life since she was used to wearing the garland made for the Lord before it adorned him. She performed this secretive and transgressive act with the confidence that she and her Lord were not two separate entities. She was once caught inadvertently by her father who chastised her for the act of sacrilege. When he refrained from offering the garland to the Lord, the Lord appeared in his dreams and asked him to bring his daughter to his sanctum, dressed as a bride. Vishnuchitta does so accordingly, when she attains the moment of her supreme union. Antal is also known as soodikodutha sudar kodi (the bejeweled creeper who wore the garland before giving). Her Tiruppavai or The Sacred Vow is a favorite in every Tamil household in the month of Margazhi corresponding between mid-December to mid-January. Manikavasagar’s Tiruvempavai could be perceived as a Shaivite counterpart of the Vaishnavite paavai nonbu.

Fusing nature and bridal mysticism, the Tiruppavai is sung by a young girl who beckons her companions to accompany her for a holy bath. The Paavai Nonbu is a 30 day penance rigorously followed by Antal to attain a sublime union with the Lord.³ The nonbu by itself has predecessors in Tamil and Sanskrit literatures. The poem begins with an invocation to the full-moon day of the margazhi month when the young lion like son of Yasodha offers his grace for all. It is important to note that although the month referred to in the poem is Margazhi, its intense devotion is eternal and timeless. It is a month of austerities. The second pasuram of Tiruppavai mentions thus:

Kohl does not darken our eyes

And flowers do not adorn our hair.

We do nothing that is wrong

And speak nothing that is evil

Instead we give freely

And offer alms to those in need

(Venkatesan-52)

Her enlightened soul would rest content only with a fusion with the Supreme. On the lines of nature mysticism, the poem invokes the natural elements, prays for copious, rains and the ultimate prosperity of the land. The gentle chidings like “can you not hear?” (pasurams 6&7), and “Is your daughter mute or deaf? Drowsy or spell-bound?” (pasuram 9) are but tender provocations of the leading devotee who only desires the moksha of all life on earth at the lotus feet of the Lord. In moments of intense spiritual devotion, the bhakta and the object of bhakti are amalgamated into a state of holistic indivisibility that reminds us of the memorable lines of W.B.Yeats: “Who can separate the dancer from the dance?”

The yoga-nidra of the Lord also needs to be awakened:

Nandagopala

…………………………..

Awaken!

……………………………

Yasoda,

radiant light of the cowherds,

immaculate as a new leaf

………………..

……………….

We cannot allow your brother and you

to sleep any longer.

(Tiruppavai5, Venkatesan 67)

The Lord, also a foster-child, is invincible since He has measured the universe, “lifted the mountain” (Pas.24), and yet floats unperturbed on a banyan leaf (pas.26). Antal’s mysticism transcends the boundaries of caste and creed since she finds kinship with cow-herds and shepherd women, and “eats in the woods” (pas.28) only to receive the blessings of the flawless Govinda. The quest implied in the seemingly simple lyrics is metaphysical and suggests a movement from the exterior landscape to the spiritual inscape. When the inward movement is complete, the process of the divine fusion betweenthe jivatma and the paramatma remains total.

The central thematic motif of the poem consists of the ritualistic bath that the gopis and the heroine undertake in the month of markazhi. But the poetic leitmotif of the Tiruppavai is the drum or the parai which is loaded with polyvalence, given the uniqueness of the Tamil language. The locale of the poem is the prosperous town of Putuvai which is itself modeled after Krishna’s Ayarpadi where there are copious rains thrice a month, the land flows with milk and honey and the cow’s udders are always full. The parai also has its Sangam antecedents since ancient Tamil kings remained habituated to using the parais or drums to summon people in times of war or to make announcements to the masses. Thus the parai was an important double edged symbol of valor and also a powerful tool of the mass media to communicate announcements and to announce news in times of war. Tiruppavai is also a communal poem and hence the parai simultaneously rouses the slumbering gopis from their sleeplands while also summoning them collectively for the ritualistic sacred bath. But the parai drum takes an unexpected twist towards the end of the poem. In the 29^th pasuram of Tiruppavai the gopis continue to reiterate their humble existence and birth while also reinforcing the notion of the Lord as having been reared amidst humble cowherdswomen. They reiterate the unswerving concept of saranagati when they continue to assert their purpose in life as being

to worship you

to praise your lotus feet

bright as gold

(Tiruppavai 29, Venkatesan 79)

But they continue to make clear to the Lord that

We have not come here

for the parai drum

For all time:

for this birth and every birth that follows

We are only yours,

We serve you only.

(Tiruppavai 29, Venkatesan 79)

The parai as an object was enough for them to be awakened from their state of agnana towards a state of gnana. But once this awakening has been achieved, a longing for this ephemeral object needs to be renounced since their soul’s urge is for the eternal service to the Lord in all the births that they may be subject to. Although the parai as an object is rejected in the end, it has fulfilled its purpose of awakening the souls and treading them towards a loftier path of wisdom.

The Tiruppavai is at once metaphysical and highly democratic since it appeals to the high and low. Its esoteric beauty is distilled from the upanisads and the Bhagavad Gita. The Jivatma’s fusion with the Paramatma through the nayaka-nayaki bhava, an innate feature of bridal and nature mysticism,⁴ is aesthetically appealing. Antal is following her predecessors like Nammalwar who had successfully amalgamated the two forms of mysticism in his Thiruvaimozhi. The clouds, blue lilies, Punnai, Malligai, Maruvam, the cock, naarai etc. are only manifestations of the spirit supreme. Nature mirrors the deepest yearnings of the soul that pines for the Lord in the mode of bridal mysticism. Despite the intensity of their devotion, the bridal mysticism of male poets like Nammalvar is often strained. Antal’s feminine existence undoubtedly proves advantageous since the rapturous female longings and the quest for surrender at the feet of a male god are but natural in her.

While Antal’s Tiruppavai ends with her wedding to Lord Sri Ranganatha, her soul yearns for an intensified union with the supreme in Nacciyar Tirumoli. The common motifs in both the poems are that of the quest. The soul continues to surge ahead for a divine union. In the Tiruppavai the quest is collective since the singer continuously uses first person plural voice which is indicative of the oneness of the heroine with the other cowherdswomen who are symbolic of all natural life forms on earth. The Nacciyar Tirumoli on the other hand is mostly rendered in the first person singular voice except stanzas 2,3 and 14 which employ a first person plural voice. The quest in this poem is singular where the heroine is forced to painfully encounter the long bouts of loneliness since the Lord remains unmoved by her intense yearnings for a long time. While nature in the earlier composition is complimentary and forms a poetic metonymy to the abundance of the bhakti rasa that surges in the soul of the devotee, it is placed in an antagonistic position in the second poem since the objects like conch, cloud, kuiyil and every other article of nature seems to be apathetic to her love.

While the Tiruppavai is chanted in many Vaishnava temples, the Nacciyar Tirumoli is not chanted (except the famous stanza Vaaranaraayiram) on account of the seeming eroticism in the poem. Here, Antal invokes the blessings of Kama (Cupid) ⁵ and his brother Sama to aid in her union with the Lord. The poem depicts the pleasant austerities that the bride undergoes to placate kama. Rituals like decorating with soft sand, use of flowers brimming with honey, drawing an image of manmadha are but external manifestations of the deeper devotion that brims in her soul. Her gynocentric vocabulary is deeply entrenched in a unique female register. She unabashedly uses her female body as a vehicle of attainment of mukti. In the fourth stanza she sings thus:

From childhood,

I pledged my broad swelling breasts

to the lord of Dvaraka

Quickly unite me with him.

(NT 1.4 Venkatesan 148)

The body, as a fit instrument for religious devotion is one of the salient features of this movement. The Siddhars of Tamil literature considered the body sacred. Thirumoolar opines that the body is the abode of God:

The mind is the sacred chamber

The physical body is the temple

For my gracious Lord, the mouth is the tower gate.

There exists a difference between the male poets using bodies as heavenly abodes and the female saint poets. Despite the intensity of their bhakti the female poets had little social sanction and acceptance to freely delineate their surging emotions in a religio-gynocentric vocabulary. The linguistic and socio-cultural spaces constricted and fettered their surging spirits. It would not be out of place to quote the much acclaimed lines of the French Cixous who writes ecstatically about the teeming female unconscious:“Write your body – your body must be heard only then will the immense resources of the unconscious spring forth” (Selden et al, 45). Cixous has clearly expressed the nexus between the female body and the unconscious from whence springs all creativity. The body by itself knows of “unheard of songs”, which are “full of luminous torrent that she could burst (Selden et al , 45). The ecriture feminine of Cixous considers the body as the locus of creation. The body is celebrated. It is never considered a taboo or branded unholy. It is interesting to note that Antal has remained a pioneer of a form of ecriture feminine centuries ago as she uses her female body as a vehicle of attainment of bhakti with an intensity that was unheard of in the annals of Indian bhakti poetry. The 7^th stanza contains references when Antal continues to invoke Manmadha thus:

Coax Tiruvikrama

who long ago measured the worlds,

to caress this delicate waist and these broad breasts

and great will be your glory in this world.

(NT 1.7 Venkatesan 149)

It would be erroneous to construe that the entire poem, has the body alone as its focal point. The different sections of the poem containing 10 stanzas each depict the soul’s quest-for a union with Krishna in the vein of madhura bhakti. A major metaphor used in this poem to express her love for the Lord is that of the conch. The Panchajanya or the Valampuri conch is a special object of veneration for various reasons. If the leitmotif of Tiruppavai is the parai, the leitmotif of Nachiyar Thirumozhi is the conch. It is an important object in the hands of Vishnu. Stanza 5.2 introduces the Lord as holding “the spotless white conch in his left hand.” (Venkatesan 159).But the seventh section of the poem is dedicated to the conch in its entirety. Since it holds a special place in the hands of Narayana. Antal is both proud of the conch which is a symbol of Narayana’s success and also envious of it since the conch has a greater proximity to the Lord than her. Despite being born in the sea, the conch is now in Narayana’s hand which makes the object more fortunate than the pining Antal herself. The numerous adjectival descriptions of the conch proclaim the greatness of the conch. It is “virtuous”, “born in the sea and nurtured in Pancajanya’s body”, it is “like a full autumn moon”, a special conch since it is in Narayana’s hand which makes it the “king of conches” and a “great and glorious conch” (Venkatesan 166-167). Not only is the conch beautiful, but it is more fortunate than her since it has a taste of Narayana’s lips when he blows it. The Pancajanya has as its food “the nectar from the lips of the one who measured the worlds”. The conch is more blessed than her since it has tasted the lips of Madhava. Antal is eager to know its taste:

Are they fragrant as camphor? Are they fragrant as the lotus?

Or do those coral lips taste sweet?

I ache to know the taste, the fragrance of the lips

Of Madhava, who broke the tusk of the elephant.

Tell me, O white conch from the deep sea.

(NT:7.1, Venkatesan 166)

The decad then proceeds to describe the greatness of the conch, but it adopts a circular pattern when she once again reiterates its position as a rival for Madhava’s love. It contends for the affection of the other women since it is claiming for itself the nectar of Madhava’s lips which is actually owned by sixteen thousand women (the gopis). Antal playfully chastises the conch thus:

If you do not share that which belongs to all

Why should they not quarrel with you?

(Venkatesan 167).

She concludes the decad on the conch thus:

Kotai of Vishnucittan,

Lord of the priests of beautiful Putuvai

………….

Sang these ten Tamil verses

Extolling the intimacy of Padmanabha and his Pancajanya

(Venkatesan 167)

Although Narayana also possesses other objects with him which are never away from him like the disc (Sudarsana), the garuda, the other divine beings or the nityasuri. But the uniqueness of the conch undoubtedly lies in its proximity to the Lord since it tastes his sweet lips and therefore remains almost transformed into another anga or a limb or the Lord, connoting their inseparability. Since the entire poem posits a quest for an inseparable union, the conch is perceived to be an apt symbol of eternal union with the Lord. Some of the lines may appear shocking to traditional thought. But a perception of the metaphysical co-text in the works only add to the depth and width of the bhakti bhava. It’s expression in a uniquely female sensibility places Antal as one of the pioneers of women’s writings of India. Closely allied to the symbol of the conch is the symbol of the conch bangles of the heroine. Section 11 of the poem is dedicated to the conch bangles of the heroine. The poet begins the poem with logical questioning of the almighty Lord for taking away her bangles from her:

The conch he holds in his hand is dear to him

Aren’t my conch bangles as dear to me

(NT 11.1, Venkatesan 177)

The heroine has been pining for her eternal union to such an extent that she has shed weight and become thin. The condition of the love-lorn heroine is not different from the pasalai noi an affliction of the Sangam Tamil heroines. The heroine’s bangles usually withered and fell away in Sangam Tamil poetry. But here, the Lord takes away the conch bangles. In fact the conch bangles seem to be an apt metonymic symbol of the Lord himself. Since the heroine stands unable to achieve a total union with the Lord, the conch is transformed into a poetic metonymy that both represents the Lord and his union. Hence, a separation from the conch bangles tantamounts to a separation from the Lord himself. She rightfully questions the Lord thus:

How has the lord of Tiruvarankam

who reigns with a perfect scepter

added to his wealth

with my simple conch bangles?

(NT 11.3, Venkatesan 177).

It is not merely the loss of the material possession of the bangle that she bemoans but rather for the loss of her “very life”. Her life undoubtedly rests with the Lord and the Lord is symbolized through the conch bangles. Therefore a theft of the bangles even by the Lord himself leads to a separation from the Lord for which she laments. The poems are intensely traditional while also being simultaneously subversive, since Antal is unconsciously posing a distinctly gynocentric tradition against the phallogocentric thought of Indian bhakti poetry, that only suppresses women’s voice. Women need to uncensor themselves to reinstate, “ [their] immense bodily territories which have been kept under seal” (cited in Selden, et al 145). Having being “othered” in the Indian bhakti system her uniquely female linguistic identity subverts the masculine symbolic language and creates novel linguistic epistemes since Antal’s bhakti begins with the body, but does not end there.

The Maharashtrian Vaishnavaite poet Janabai also mentions her love for Vittal in a consummative tone:

I eat him, I drink him,

He shares my bed, I sleep by him

These metaphors of sexual union are actually poetic metonymies for the higher love that lies embedded in the poet. A twin process of creation takes place, the body is both a register by itself and also an aid for the creation of novel socio-linguistic patterns. The creativity of Antal ultimately traverses the laws of phallocentric discourse and invents for herself a language to get inside of it. In Antal, a nexus is established between bhakti, anubhuti and the bodily subjective experience. The soul’s realization is not removed from the body; on the other hand, the libidinal force expressed in the poems transmit a new truth that emanates from the body and also ultimately transcends it.

The creation of such unique feminist epistemes in bhakti would not have been easy for Antal. She has revolutionarily created a gendered space in the movement. The Tamil writer Rajam Krishnan’s book Feminism in the Indian Social History (1991) spotlights the particular disadvantageous position in which women were placed. Basically women faced impediments in expressing in the bhakti rasa for a male god since women epitomized chastity which called for a singular devotion to their mortal husbands alone. In fact, the concept of bridal mysticism was problematic since women lacked the socio-cultural and political freedom to celebrate the purushothama as did the male poets. Their expression of bhakti in erotic terms was considered to be unchaste. But these women dared.

Antal has amalgamated the feminist episteme into Madhura bhakti. Her place in the history of Tamil saint poets remains remarkable since she was simultaneously iconoclastic and traditional. In transcending all binarisms, she smoothly merged into the supreme spirit thus succeeding in her metaphysical quest.

Abbreviation: NT: Nacciyar Tirumoli

ENDNOTES

¹. Conservatives: eg. Tulsidas, the author of Ramcharitmanas, who supported the varna system. But even he created novel poetic idioms in his work.

Radicals: Included the varkaris of Marathi, and veerashaivas or lingayats of Karnataka.

Brahmins: Eknaath, Jnanadev, Chaitanya who de-brahminised themselves following the sramana ideology.

Sudras: Dadu the cotton carder, Namdev the tailor, Chowdayya the ferryman, Gora the potter, Chokkamela the Mahar etc.

Women: Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Antal, Janabai, Vittobai, Lal Ded.

². Such a tendency is evident even in the songs of the Buddhist nuns of the 6th century BC (called Therigatta) like Mutta, Ubbiri, Sumangala Mata and Mettika. Susie Tharu points out that each lyric focuses on “an epiphanic experience in which the painful constructions of secular life fall away and the torment of feelings subsides as the peace and freedom of nirvana are attained”.

³.An identical ceremony is mentioned in the ancient Tamil text Paripadal wherein young girls bathe early in the Vaigai and invoke the Lord for marital blessings. But the songs of Paripadal is merely sensual whereas those of Antal are metaphysical. The Bhagavata Purana, book X, Chap 22, describes a similar ceremonial observance to those mentioned in Tiruppavai. The penance is observed by the milkmaids who seek Krishna for their husband. They invoke Katyavani, an aspect of Parvati for the purpose. P.S. Sundaram mentions that many scholars now opine that Bhagavata purana is much later than Antal.

⁴ This form of devotion is also seen in the west, as in the case of St.Bernard Clairvaux (1091-1953) who belonged to the Cisterian order. He followed the path of love in Christian spirituality. The bride is the central image in Bernard. He places the marriage of Christ and church before the union of Christ and the soul is aesthetically appealing by invoking nature as an aid in the merger.

⁵. Antal’s worship of Kama could be questioned by orthodox theologians, since she was the daughter of Perialwar, an ardent Vishnavaite who would accept only Vishnu as the Supreme Lord. It is crucial to remember that Antal does not consider Kama as the ultimate Lord of her surrender. He would only aid her to attain a union with Narayana. Probably she also knew the way in which Lord Shiva and Parvathi were united by Kama. She also pleads him to form a similar union of her with Narayana.

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Venkatesan, Archana. The Secret Garland: Antal’s Tiruppavai and Naaciyar Tirumoli

NY: OUP, 2010.

Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu #363: Uddhava’s Prayers to Radharani, and more … The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine was just released. This issue includes: * PRAISING GURU IS NOT ENOUGH – Instructions from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada • UDDHAVA’S PRAYERS TO RADHA – In this section of Garga-samhita, Uddhava, arriving in Vrindavan after having been sent by Krishna to give a message of love to the gopis and other Vrajavasis, meets Radharani and offers prayers to her. These prayers describe the many forms that Radharani takes to accompany Krishna in his various incarnations. It can be downloaded here: https://goo.gl/UjtaEG

New issue of the Nityam Bhagavata-sevaya newsletter.
NBS # 25 Features: 1) Conversation Between Lord Krishna And Nanda Maharaja Srila Sukadeva Goswami 2) Why Lord Krishna Cited The Karma-Mimasa Philosophy ? Srila Sridhar Swami 3) Govardhana-Puja His Divine Grace A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 4) The Glories Of Govardhana Hill Srila Narahari Chakravarti Thakur 5) Hari-Dasa-Varyo Sri Govardhana Srila Giriraja Swami 6) Sri Govardhana-Vasa-Prarthana-Dasaka Ten Appeals for Residence at Govardhana Hill Srila Raghunatha Das Goswami We pray this issue brings some pleasure to the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This issue can be viewed through this link: https://goo.gl/ABhHH2

November 22. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Prabhupada was especially uncompromising in his condemnation of materialistic activities. He used strong language to describe people who are devoid of the inclination for spiritual life, calling them dogs, hogs, camels and asses. He also referred to them as rascals. He called the leaders of the countries cheaters. He said they were all going to hell for their impious activities. By any standard, this was harsh criticism. He also protested against the government. He did it in a non-sectarian way, favoring neither the Communists nor the Capitalists. According to the scriptures, he said, “Any political leader in this age is bound to be the lowest kind of man.” In a sense, he protested against the material bonds that held families together. The devotee is described in sastra as one who doesn’t have enemies and who doesn’t cause agitation for others. Prabhupada was not a troublemaker. He simply wanted to give people the key to their own happiness, but because of their inimical attitude towards renunciation and devotion to God, there was trouble. Despite everything, Prabhupada continued distributing books and propagating the Holy Name.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=2

The post Daily Darshan – November 22nd, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The other day our parikrama party visited Varsana, the home of Srimati Radharani. This beautiful photo album by Ananta Vrindavan dasa perfectly captures the mood of the people and places of this most revered village. Such photography helps to increase one’s desire to one day reside in the eternal realm Goloka Vrindavan.

Prabhupada’s Qualities

November 18: Mukunda Goswami’s health update.
Thanks to all your prayers and good wishes, Mukunda Goswami is making a slow but steady recovery from his two surgeries.
On November 6, Mukunda Maharaja was transferred from Gold Coast University hospital to the rehabilitation facility of Murwillumbah hospital, which is a 15-minute drive from New Govardhan farm community and his residence there.
In the next 12 days that followed, the local medical staff have been doing their best to gradually encourage Mukunda Goswami towards complete recovery.
Initially Mukunda Goswami was placed in a room with two more patients. But later an intestinal infection, a highly contagious and tenacious bug, Clostridium difficile, was detected and Maharaja was shifted to a single room. This was a blessing in disguise since being alone in the room allowed Maharaja to continuously listen to Srila Prabhupada’s classes played via his loudspeaker system, chant and converse with devotee attendants. Doctors put Maharaja on a course of antibiotics, and as of yesterday, his blood markers indicated that the infection is all but gone. He will still be kept in quarantine for a few days until his recovery is confirmed microbiologically.
Although Mukunda Goswami was quite weak, dehydrated and undernourished after the surgeries, it was a challenge for doctors, nurses and devotee attendants alike to encourage Maharaja to eat more and drink more water. They even had to put him on an IV drip for two days to replenish fluids in his body. It got to the point that one nurse, an elderly lady named Jan, had to tell him: “Look, Mukunda, you Hare Krsnas are very peace-loving people, right? So if you do not drink enough, you’re gonna see one very angry woman!” The nurses also try to trick Maharaja into drinking more water each time they bring him a pill, which fortunately works. Still, Maharaja is very reluctant to drink more, joking today, a cup of water in his hand, that he feels like Socrates forced to drink hemlock. Heparin injections are given twice daily to prevent clotting as well other blood thinning medications until Maharaja starts moving more and is further reviewed by the cardiac team.
As far as nutrition, Maharaja conceded to start taking more food, and has three meals a day supplemented by a high-protein Resource drink that is put on his medication list so he cannot avoid it so easily. All his food intake is carefully logged by a dietitian and Maharaja’s attendants
Being a rehabilitation facility, the staff here are trained (and train us as well) to make sure that Mukunda Goswami feels him more like a normal healthy person than a patient. Their mantra is “You are helping him best by not helping”. They encourage Maharaja to increase his level of self-dependence each day in such basic things as getting out of or into bed, transferring himself to the chair, using toilet, showering, helping himself on water etc. As recently as one week ago Mukunda Goswami could not do much on his own, but soon he started walking using a walking frame Maharaja walks daily laps around the rehab, as much as 800 meters a day and counting. Yesterday, for the first time since his hospitalization on October 23, he went outside on a wheelchair accompanied by Krsna-kirtana Prabhu, breathed the fresh air and basked in the sun for 30 min while enjoying a beautiful view of the Tweed river commanded from the hospital deck. Whether permitting, such outings will become a daily part of his recovery. The aim is to make him secure and confident using the wheeler so he could resume his normal lifestyle at home. A local devotee, expert masseur Trayadisa Prabhu also visits Maharaja twice a week to work on his legs, which helps reduce post-operative swelling and pain .
A few words must be said about the staff. Female and male nurses, most of them in their late 50s or early 60s, are very friendly, caring and attentive. Murwillumbah being the seat of one of the largest and oldest Hare Krsna communities in Australia, most of the staff workers either have friends among devotees, live next door to one of them or in the very least have a very favorable opinion about devotees. A couple of devotees work at the hospital too, one of them, Mahavan Prabhu, serving as a security officer here. They treat Maharaja will a lot of respect and affection. One lady, Maharaja’s occupational therapist, said she was “blown away” after looking “Mukunda Goswami” up on Google and learning of his world renown. Another male nurse asked for the Hare Krsna mantra, which Maharaja had written out for him, and still another swore by “that wonderful pudding with dates” (halava) and indicated he would not mind trying it again. Mukunda Maharaja remarked that the nurses here are very positive, personal and “winsome”.
Today’s medical assessment concluded that, if all goes well, Mukunda Goswami would be discharged in a week or two, but still kept as an outpatient for some more time until they are confident that Maharaja is strong and able to walk assisted with only a walking stick. The intestinal infection quarantine forced us to discourage visitations to Maharaja for now, but hopefully the restriction will be lifted in a few days after Maharaja is ruled as C.diff.-negative. Still, devotees keep regularly sending Maharaja flowers
With Mukunda Goswami’s discharge nearing, an assessment visit to his house is scheduled by the occupational therapist for November 20 in order to identify all the necessary adjustments in his living space to enable him to resume his normal lifestyle safely and securely. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to devotees from all over the world who have generously contributed funds towards preparing the house for his rehabilitation needs.
As I said in the beginning, barring any emergency, this is the last detailed report on Mukunda Goswami’s health sent to this forum. However, we will continue regular or live updates on Mukunda Goswami’s health, recovery and service on hisTwitter account at: https://twitter.com/Mukunda_Goswami
And, again, we cannot thank enough all of you and thousands of devotees across the world for their ongoing prayers form Mukunda Maharaja’s full recovery and many more years of service to Srila Prabhupada’s mission.
On behalf of Mukunda Goswami’s disciples and followers
your servant, Madana-mohan das

A visit to Man Sarovar, Bhandirvan, Baelvan Karttika (Album with photos)
Last week we visited Maan Sarovar, the lake of Radharani’s tears, Bhandirvan, the place of Radha Krishna’s wedding, and Baelvan, where Sri Laksmiji resides! Visit these special forests through the pics of Vittalrukmini Das!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/8iFRme

By Rsiraja Das

Einstein’s Religion

Einstein once said that “If there is a religion that could correspond to the needs of science, it would be Buddhism.” Why Buddhism? That is because in Buddhism there is no soul or God. The ultimate reality is a void, which would resonate with the scientific idea that the universe springs from a space-time vacuum. In Einstein’s theory of relativity, matter emerges from the curvature in space-time and to produce matter, curvature has to be added to space-time. Similarly, in atomic theory, quantum particles are created from the fluctuations of a vacuum. These fluctuations cannot, at present, be predicted, although the theory says they are probable. How this probability becomes a reality requires the addition of something that does not presently exist within science (the standard interpretation of quantum theory requires a collapse postulate that converts the probabilities into reality). Curvature of space-time and fluctuations in space-time represent the form in nature, which produces individual objects and their aggregations. Modern science, however, believes that all forms are outcomes of random occurrences or chance events. A more acceptable term in modern science is to call these forms emergent rather than fundamental properties of nature. From physics to biology, form is regarded as a consequence of random effects in nature. In quantum physics, the form appears as a random fluctuation in the vacuum which produces sub-atomic particles. These sub-atomic particles combine to form atoms and molecules. By the time we get to complex molecules, a lot of things are possible. Biologists now claim that living beings are produced through random mutations in these molecules. [1]

What Are Impersonalism and Voidism?

The scientific idea that form is a random and emergent property in nature is echoed in the spiritual philosophies of impersonalism and voidism which claim that the ultimate reality is formless, and forms are temporary effects. When reality is identified as something that exists eternally without changing, these forms are regarded as illusions, because although they appear to us in observations, they are not permanent. Some of these philosophies regard forms to be byproducts of our actions. Since actions are temporary, the forms are impermanent and hence illusory. Impersonalism and voidism claim that the ultimate reality is formless. Impersonalism claims that ultimate reality is a non-dual ‘substance’ in which the duality of form and object does not exist. Voidism claims that the ultimate reality is nothingness, in which the idea of a non-dual substance is also discarded. While impersonalism regards the non-dual reality as consciousness, voidism denies even the existence of consciousness. In voidism, there is no experiencer beyond the experience. Both the experiencer and the experience are created simultaneously.

In recent times, many attempts to bring science and religion together have been motivated from the impersonalist and voidist philosophical stances. Buddhism is a philosophy of voidism while Advaita Vedanta is a philosophy of impersonalism. On the face of it, there is tremendous synergy between science and these ideologies of formlessness because science too tries to describe the ultimate reality as a formless vacuum. In both cases, forms are emergent rather than fundamental properties of nature. However, once you acknowledge that ultimate reality is formless, it hardly matters whether you call it space-time, nothingness or oneness. These are more or less equivalent formulations of the same basic idea.

A History of Impersonalism and Voidism

In Indian philosophy, impersonalism (the idea that there is an ultimate being, although that being is formless) arose several centuries ago in the philosophy of the great savant Sankarāchārya who produced an interpretation of Vedanta Sutra (the summarized conclusions of the Vedas) arguing that Brahman is real while this world is unreal. Impersonalists quote the Vedantic aphorism: brahma satyam jagat mithya, implying that Brahman or oneness is real while the manifest universe of differentiated forms is unreal. Since the experience of the individuality of observers is also part of the worldly experiences, the impersonalist claims that the distinction between observers is false. There is hence only a single observer that is segregated into many observers and their experiences, and this separation is an illusion. Only the single consciousness that existed prior to the creation of many observers is therefore real.

Sankarāchārya’s impersonalism was a response to the inroads that the philosophy of Buddhism was making in Indian society around 8^th century AD. When it started, Buddhism had criticized the rampant ritualism (often without a profound philosophical grounding) prevalent in Indian society at that time. But in thus criticizing the Vedic religion, Buddhism gradually undermined the authority of the Vedas themselves. Centuries later, Sankarāchārya revived the Vedic religion’s philosophy, restoring the authority of the Vedas, although he also rejected the practices of rituals. His work led to a new interpretation of Vedanta Sutra, in which ultimate reality is conceived as being formless and impersonal.

Buddhism had claimed that both the observer and the observed are unreal, and to know ‘reality’ one must know the emptiness in which neither subject nor object are real. Sankarāchārya reinstated the existence of a transcendental subject without rescuing the material world from non-existence. But how much better is the undivided oneness of a transcendental observer than the emptiness of space-time is questionable. If you cannot use distinctions, you cannot use language. Both oneness and nothingness are just words which can mean something only in contrast to something that exists different from these ideas. It may not mean that oneness and nothingness are unreal. However, it does mean that we cannot speak about them using language in the conventional sense because every word or sound represents a form, although both voidism and impersonalism employ words that refer to the formless.

Compare impersonalism and voidism with modern science. Here, only matter is real and the observers, although conscious, are also material. In the predominant way of thinking about conscious observers today, consciousness is an attribute of brains. Although what exactly in the brain makes it conscious is still not known, the belief is that this ideology, when pursued sufficiently, will give us the answers. Both observers and the phenomena they observe in science are this-worldly and not other-worldly. Furthermore, matter is itself not fundamental. Rather, the differences between objects are produced from an undifferentiated space-time. What causes their production remains an unsolved problem in science.

There is hence a considerable philosophical synergy between the ideas of impersonalism, voidism and materialism in modern science. However, this similarity between these three viewpoints also implies that they inherit the common problem of converting the formless into something with form. The formless is undivided and undifferentiated while things with form are divided and differentiated. The problem of form can therefore also be stated as the problem of how a singular reality becomes differentiated into individual objects. Only when reality is differentiated can be it known, spoken about, and described in language. Materialism, impersonalism and voidism do not explain the advent of form and language.

The similarities between voidism (where the ultimate reality is a void or nothingness), impersonalism (where the ultimate reality is an undifferentiated oneness) and scientific materialism (where the ultimate reality is space-time), have prompted some scientists (e.g., Einstein) and New Age spiritualists (e.g., Deepak Chopra) to see these parallels as avenues for reconciling the materialism in science with the mysticism in religions. These attempts at reconciliation however can get very confusing for many scientists and spiritualists alike. For instance, if reality is ultimately formless and living beings are accidents of the conversion of formlessness into form, then the practice of religion is an accident of nature as well. Why would we treat the religious experience as something profound if we do not treat the mundane experiences as equally profound?

The Problem of Impersonalism and Voidism

The central difficulty in the philosophies of impersonalism and voidism is the inability to explain how the manifest world of forms is created from the formless. For instance, if the universe prior to creation is oneness, then how is that oneness divided into many parts? If the universe is emptiness prior to creation, then what converts that emptiness into objects? The scientific counterpart of these questions is: If space-time is the fundamental entity from which the universe springs, then what causes the random fluctuation in that space-time, which, in turn cause the manifest universe? Without such an explanation, the theory of nature is incomplete because it cannot explain the origin of form from the formless.

In recent times, there have been attempts to solve this problem by postulating consciousness as a transcendent entity that creates the forms. For instance, some New Age thinkers claim that nature is a quantum probability wavefunction that consciousness collapses into definite states out of its choices. This consciousness, the spiritualist claims, is an impersonal cosmic consciousness, the field of choices in which the world of experience is created. But this idea of a cosmic impersonal consciousness is a misnomer because the idea of choice and the idea of oneness are incompatible; choices imply individuality, and if consciousness can choose, then it must be an individual. Choices without individuality cannot exist. The idea of cosmic conscious choices thus leads to inconsistency. However, without the notion of a transcendent consciousness, there is no explanation for the emergence of form from the formless. In that scenario, the scientific explanation of nature is incomplete.

Science is already being stalked by problems of incompleteness and inconsistency which spirituality is supposed to solve. For, if science was already complete and consistent, then there would be no need for a spiritual alternative. By adopting impersonal and voidistic approaches, however, we again inherit problems of inconsistency and incompleteness, this time from the spiritual notions.

It has become customary in science to attribute anything that the scientific theory cannot explain to randomness. Thus space-time can randomly produce particles, and these randomly created particles can randomly combine to form complex molecules, which can randomly combine to produce living beings. By injecting the idea of randomness into a logical-empirical explanation of nature, such theories violate the fundamental goal in science which is to provide predictable cause-effect relationships. Those who propose randomness as an explanation of currently unexplained facts believe that they are proposing a unique scientific idea, but a closer look reveals that they are proposing infinitely many unique ideas.

Most impersonalist and voidist religious philosophies ride on this dogmatic approach to science. Just as matter can ‘emerge’ from the collapse of the wavefunction or changes to the geometry of the space-time in physical theories, impersonalism and voidism suggest that forms are created from something formless. While claiming to provide a ‘synthesis’ of science and religion, in so far as the problem about the conversion of formless to form is concerned, we would not have moved an inch in neither religion nor science.

Form and Personalism

There is another school of Indian philosophy—much older than both Buddhism and impersonalism—that provides a radically different view of creation. In this view, there are two things—the formless and form—which combine to create the universe. Matter is formless, and it can be equated with the space-time of science, the oneness of impersonalism or the emptiness of voidism. This matter is undifferentiated; that is, matter exists but objects don’t. Objects are created when form is combined with the formless. This form originates as choices of individuals—both God and the living souls. Individuality here is simply synonymous with free will and choice. If a living being has free will, he or she must be different from other living beings because they can choose differently.

The combination of conscious choices and formless matter produces the world of differentiated objects. Essentially, choices divide the undivided into individuals. Both form and the formless are said to be eternal and real in this school of philosophy. However, their combination is not eternal. The material universe is therefore not always real although the constituents of that universe are.

This school of thought is sometimes called the personalist school in Indian philosophy because the idea of choice requires an individual and if choices create form in nature then there must be a priori real individuals, or persons. In the personalist philosophy, the free will of consciousness is an inalienable definition of being a person. It is due to its innate free will that a soul is always individual. Souls can temporarily suspend their free will and appear to lose their individuality, whereby they are said to be merged into a single undivided existence called Brahman. But this suspension of free will is different from the illusion of free will. If there is free will to begin with, then it can be suspended to create oneness. But if there is no free will (because all forms of individuality are illusory), then it cannot be createdfrom oneness. If individuality is fundamental, then it can create oneness. But if oneness is fundamental then it cannot create individuality. In the personalist school, therefore, individuality is said to be fundamental, from which oneness is created when the living being chooses to discard its own free will.

The idea of free will is not reducible, neither to matter nor to an undivided being. It cannot be reduced to matter because free will can create new ideas while matter cannot produce anything new; matter can only be transformed from one state to another. The exact counterpart of this difference in the material world is that information can be created or destroyed but energy cannot be created or destroyed (energy must always be conserved although it can be transformed). Since free will can produce new information, while matter cannot, free will cannot be material. Free will is also different from existence for the simple reason that existence is always undifferentiated while free will is always differentiated.

While a living being may temporarily suspend its free will, and thereby merge into the oneness of a unified existence, this free will remains an innate property that can spring forth at any time. The state of oneness is therefore temporary, while free will is eternal. If you have free will you can give it up. But if you don’t have free will you cannot create it. The fundamental paradox of form in impersonalism, voidism and materialism cannot therefore be solved, because these attempt to create form from something formless. The personalist view postulates that form already exists as individual conscious beings whose free will is the symptom of their individuality. In Vedic philosophy, consciousness or chit is actually free will or the choice to attend to some facts. Consciousness is not an automatic imprint on a passive ‘awareness.’ Rather, a conscious being chooses to become conscious of the world and can also withdraw from the world. Consciousness is therefore identical with choice and there cannot be consciousness without free will. The impersonalist notion of an impersonal and formless consciousness that is devoid of free will (and individuality) is therefore a misnomer. All conscious beings must have a form although by suspending that individuality, a soul can be merged into formless existence.

Through the development of free will, an individual soul acquires a personality, which is also a free construction. Once this personality is developed, there is a need to know and express this personality. Now, the personality is externalized in matter as objects that are essentially reflections of the individual’s persona.

In Vedic philosophy, creation begins when the free will is objectified as a language of forms. This language gives a ‘form’ to the individual making him a unique type of person. This personality is then expressed as the identity of me and mine, and in due course, into propositions about the self, which then become sensations, which are then objectified as symbols of meaning—matter.

Forms and Choices

Every form therefore originates as a choice. Choices individuate a formless existence into a person and then objectify this personality into self-identity, intents, concepts, sensations and things. The living being is said to be ‘caught’ in the material world, but this world is compared to a ‘web’ that the spider has produced out of itself. Through its choices, the living being encages itself into a material identity, intelligence, mind, senses and finally a material body. The impersonalists jump at this problem and claim that since the root of the problem is the use of free will, we must discard the free will and merge into a single, undivided, undifferentiated, oneness.

The personalist however claims that the free will cannot be discarded. It can temporarily be suspended, but it will rise again and encage the living being, unless it is used in a new way. Spirituality in Vedic philosophy begins with the idea that there are uses of the free will that do not encage it. While a detailed description of this use of free will is out of the scope of this essay, the fundamental point that I wanted to make here is that the formsin nature are not emergentproperties. They are rather a fundamentalproperty. Form can be suspended when free will is suspended and the world returns to being formless. But form cannot be created from the formless. Ideas about formlessness in impersonalism, voidism and materialism have a challenge on their hands—namely to explain the emergence of form from the formless. Postulating that form is created due to randomness in nature is not truly an explanation.

We can pretend that randomness is a scientific idea, but such theories will in the future be superseded by others that actually describe form in new ways. The next article discusses the relation between form and science and how ideas about form can and will transform science in unprecedented ways. The key takeaway from here, that I wish to highlight, is that impersonalism and voidism add nothing to science that science is not already doing through its materialist ideology. Impersonalism and voidism are pseudo-spiritual reinterpretations of the materialist philosophy in science. Do we really need them in science? I personally don’t think so.

The personalist approach appears to be much more interesting, because it indicates that all variety and individuality in the world are ultimately products of choices and not randomness. Choices are first objectified as subtle information, which is then embodied into objects. Vedic philosophy then describes the stages through which choices are gradually objectified into matter. This objectification or the expression of choices is governed by two kinds of natural laws. First, there are semantic laws of information combining which dictate how the interaction of two semantic objects produces another semantic effect. Second, there are moral laws of information combining which determine the reaction to the act of combining itself. The semantic effect of combining is purely in matter, but the moral reaction acts on the conscious observer.

Both these types of laws can be studied in nature and they present an alternative material science produced from the effects and reactions of conscious choices. Such a science of choices will lead us to some profound questions about the origin of the universe: How are choices themselves produced? In Vedic philosophy, choices are information which can be produced by an individual soul. In the material universe, this information is short-lived and is eventually destroyed by the effect of Time. However, the soul is never destroyed by Time and it continuously produces information through its choices (which, as we saw above, are identical to consciousness). In Vedic philosophy, therefore, the very act of being conscious produces choices, which are objectified as information, which in turn differentiates matter into objects. Similarly, the universe of individual objects is dissolved into an undifferentiated material existence when consciousness stops its conscious choices [2].

When information is destroyed by the effects of Time, the objects are unmanifest and cannot be known. However, since the soul is never destroyed, it can create new information. In short, while matter is conserved, information is not. The total amount of matter when the universe is manifest is equal to the total amount of matter when the universe does not exist. The difference between the existence and non-existence of the universe is therefore the total amount of information that is added to undifferentiated matter to produce a cosmos of individual objects.

If information is the byproduct of randomness in emptiness, we wouldn’t be able to causally explain the origin of information. If information originally exists in matter, and consciousness experiences it, then we would not be able to explain why information is semantic. It is only when information originates in consciousness and is then objectified in matter, that we can causally explain the origin of information as well as why this information is semantic.

Notes:

[1] This essay was previously published in my book Is the Apple Really Red?

[2] This claim might prompt some readers to ask: Does the universe disappear or become unmanifest when I close my eyes? In Vedic philosophy, even when we are unaware of the existence of the world, there is a form of God called Paramātma who continuously observes (and thus maintains) the universe by observation. The universe is annihilated when this form of God withdraws His consciousness. This is further detailed in the book Six Causes.

In Every Town and Village! (12 min video)
A compilation of devotees chanting together in different remote places of the globe. Showing how the desire of Lord Chaitanya that Lord Krishna’s Name will be chanted in every town and village of the world is being realized!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/kwF8xk

Dedicated to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day Festival 

 

Srila Prabupada’s Arrival Festival in Butler, PA

Butler, PA, the place Srila Prabhupada started his preaching in the West, is a special thirtha for all ISKCON members. To honor the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival in America, ISKCON New Vrindaban organized a festival in Butler which took place on Saturday, October 24^th , 2015. Devotees came from all over America for the event, including devotees from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Columbus, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Toronto, New Vrindaban, and New York. As the 50^th anniversary for Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival Festival began, devotees merrily greeted one another and assembled outside for Harinam. From the 3^rd story of the often-mentioned YMCA to the Argarwal condos where Srila Prabhupada stayed for a month, the Harinam Sankirtan party paraded the streets while steaming up the falling rain. Bhakti Marg Maharaj and Nityodita Prabhu took the lead and others followed with dancing feet.

The party then commemorated in the ballroom hall for the special speaking presentations. Vrindavan Das, the New Vrindaban Director of Communications and event organizer, introduced the guest speakers who took turns appreciating Srila Prabhupada and telling personal anecdotes and their exchanges with His Divine Grace. Speakers included Mother Krsna Nandini, Sikhi Mahiti Prabhu, Mother Jaya Sri, Mother Visvadika, Akhilananda Prabhu, Jaya Krsna Prabhu, Subavilas das, Archalata devi dasi and Nityodita Prabhu.

The event concluded with a 20-minute dancing Harinama party inside the ballroom where all attendees gathered to chant the Holy Name, laugh and dance, with the encouragement of Bhakti Marg Maharaj who is known to bring the life out of people through his unique and unifying dances.

After catching sweet breaths of ecstatic kirtan air, the crowd simmered to a cool, offered humble pranams to their spiritual masters, and assembled in line for a grand feast cooked by Radha devi dasi and her sisters.

We would like to thank the special guests who brought their sweet stories, the YMCA hosts, Ballroom hosts, Jaya Krsna Prabhu, representative of the New Vrindaban temple which sponsored the event as well as Vrindavan Das, the festival organizer. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Upcoming Events!

 

 

November 26th, 2015 :        Thanksgiving Lunch for community members

November 27th-28th, 2015 :   Thanksgiving Festival

December 5th-6th, 2015 :          ISKCON New Vrindaban and Eco-V Open Joint Board Meetings (Schedule Below)

Questions or comments please call 1-304-843-1600 ext.111 or 106

Giriraj Swami spoke on Srila Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja during the Sunday program.

“Although one could say that Srila Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja didn’t preach, he did so through Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. He had an immense wealth of spiritual realization that he gave to Srila Sarasvati Thakura, who then distributed it. If I have one million dollars and don’t distribute it but give it to someone else to distribute, it is as good as if I had distributed it myself. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura distributed that wealth of Krishna consciousness that he received from his guru maharaja. Although Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was busy in his mission, he would meet his guru maharaja on occasion. Once, while traveling by steamer on a preaching tour, a gentleman proposed to Srila Sarasvati Thakura, ‘As a gosthyanandi [preacher], your whole way of life and  outlook is quite different from that of your guru maharaja, who was a peaceful bhajananandi.’ Srila Sarasvati Thakura excitedly replied, ‘There is no disparity whatsoever in our purpose and intent.’ Referring to the boat’s engine, he explained that all the moving parts were dependent on the battery, which although small, silent, unmoving, and unseen, was the source of power for the whole operation. ‘Similarly,’ he continued, ‘my guru maharaja was sitting and chanting and didn’t mix with the public, but he is the battery for all my activities. Without him I am nothing.’ ”

Jaya Radha Madhava
Srila Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji’s Life and Legacy

Meet the dancing parrot! (1 min funny video)
You may have seen parrots chanting Hare Krishna and Haribol but have you seen one who dances in the pace of the kirtan?
If not watch this parrot happily accompanying the devotees in their kirtan :-)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/4Nv3UG

Of course, today, India is a conglomeration of various thoughts, and culture. Still, I feel there are places all over the country with edifices so old no one can estimate its origins. When people visit India as a tourist spot, they approach India from a 21st century mindset coupled with their time frame. If a westerner visits India, he or she is used to the biblical time frame which at the most is 6000 years old or so and within that time relevance experience India. If one is a rational thinker he or she visits India withe a modern vs non-modern perspective about India. All of these lenses may infuse certain relative truths about the country, however, the real India is not modern or non-modern or 6000 years old, it is actually a timeless piece of history like walking into a vast museum where we can see artifacts from a timeless age. The buildings, practices, values, rituals, sentiments, emotions all of it stem from that timeless age. Unless a visitor to India has this vision of a timelessness, he or she cannot and will not appreciate the real and true Indian culture.

Even to this day, parts of India has this timeless culture rooted in its spiritual values. People still glorify and desire to have a leader like Lord Ramachandra, From North to South, Lord Ram and His transcendental companions are glorified and worshipped. According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, it is mentioned that Lord Rama appeared in Treta yuga of the 24th Manu cycle, which translates to about 18 million years before today. According to modern science, 18 million years ago  there was no human beings as we know today and yet Lord Rama ruled over a vast kingdom with human subjects.

So if we really want to appreciate the "Real India", then we have to approach it in this timeless manner. In doing so, the land will speak to you and embrace you as its own!

Hare Krishna

By Mahatma Das

Imagine this scene. After millions of lifetimes you finally make it back to the spiritual world. As you approach the gates of Goloka you are asked to wait because Krsna wants to come and personally greet you. You are getting more excited at every moment. You can hardly believe you have finally made it back to your eternal home. In the distance you see a beautiful blue form coming towards you. Finally, after transmigrating through 8,400,000 species of life since time immemorial, you get a glimpse of your eternal Lover and Friend. His enchanting form captivates your eyes and mind. You drink in His beauty as if it were the sweetest nectar. Your heart begins to pound in anticipation of being able to talk to Krsna, to touch Him, to play and dance with Him. You can’t stop crying as you reflect on the innumerable lifetimes you turned your back on Krsna and on the fact that you are now reuniting with Him. Finally, the supreme Lord, appearing as the most enchanting cowherd boy, approaches you. This is the greatest moment in your eternal existence. You stand anxiously waiting. You are speechless. Continue reading "Exploring Your Word of Honor
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

Return of the Demon

I encountered another insomnia attack last night. Let's see how the patterns goes. I thought that forty-five days of good hard work on the feet, walking, and regulation could cure sleeplessness. Lo and behold, soon after returning to home-base the old pattern seemed to return, hauntingly. What to do? I’ve tried everything under the sun to deal with the issue but I’m dealing with a stubborn ox. What can I, as a bhakti yogi, learn from stubbornness? I had to think about it.

Well, I will be very obstinate towards “Maya”, worldly temptations. I will say “NO!” to Maya’s beckoning and deny any offers from that department of illusion. I will try to see staunchness and stubbornness to be like a set of twins, good neighbours at least, who live on the same block together. Patience will also be a part of the same community.

Perhaps I’ll take up juggling and toss these three pins in the air, like balancing time, place, and circumstance together. It seems like a formula for easier living, beginning with the creature called stubbornness. I’m glad to meet with a challenge although initially it was uncomfortable when I saw insomnia coming on.

I’m learning from this, that whatever rears its ugly head is an act of God. In this way I am beginning to see divinity manifest all around.

I did manage to pace a bit during the time of apparent despair. The balcony of our ashram provided a good space as I addressed the little demon (Oops! Excuse me!) my little friend called Insomnia.

May the Source be with you!

3 km

By Tamohara dasa

I have seen time and again how devotees who have undergone brahmacari training, and who later take up the reins of householder life, enter the workplace with skills far above those of the average man or woman. It is not that the skills and mentality of the devotional training have no value in the work theatre. On the contrary, the training as given by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada raises the devotee to a level above that of others. The first thing that a brahmacari must do is exercise self-discipline, as according to the Iskcon temple standards. They must rise early, even though the mind may prefer to stay down for the count. This is no easy matter, especially for teenagers or younger people. They thus learn to rise to the occasion, to do the needful, even if it initially is unpleasant They learn to stave off sense gratification for the sake of a higher goal. The brahmacari thus learns that some things are worth sacrificing for, and this becomes part of his or her mind-set. Continue reading "The Glories of Brahmacarya
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By Bhurijana dasa

The monkeys of Raman Reti can undoubtedly be cute. But are they wise? Mostly they use their amazing climbing skills to wander from tree to roof to balcony for the purpose of foraging for soft leaves, berries, or other eatables. When they're not eating they fight, mate, or sleep. But, however, I've noted that they can also be clever and quite brave. Many strongly built males will always fiercely fight to protect from attack the young within their family. That can be said to be a type of wisdom, for it is required for the family's survival, but are monkeys truly wise? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura told a story about a wise old monkey and those of his followers who listened to him. And, of course, the lesson to be learned by noting the fate of those who didn't. In his story, along with his accompanying lesson, Srila Saraswati Thakura seems to equate wisdom with the ability to see the future. Continue reading "A Wise Old Monkey
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A visit to Villaggio Hare Krishna, Milan, Italy (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If a devotee once utters the holy name of the Lord, or if it penetrates his mind or enters his ear, which is the channel of aural reception, that holy name will certainly deliver him from material bondage, whether vibrated properly or improperly, with correct or incorrect grammar, or properly joined or vibrated in separate parts. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.60)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/kuaHMM

The post Last parikrama in Vraja to Varaha-ghat and Saubhari Muni’s asrama (Part 1) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Kirtan in Vraja November 20th appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

ISKCON Temple, Dwarka: Kartik Yatra 2015 (Album with photos)
Kalavati Sundari Devi Dasi: By the grace of Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, devotees were blessed with an inconceivable good fortune to be together on pilgrimage to Vrindavan during the holiest Kartik month and in the association of wonderful devotees.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/2LKtOZ

ISKCON Auckland, New Zealand: Rathayatra Ki Jai! (Album with photos)
As storms battered the country we started the 1st of 10 Rathayatra Xmas parades which will happen over the next 3 weeks around Auckland. In a small coastal town with a hand full of dedicated Jaganatha Bhakta’s.
It was much appreciated by the local people and the organiser, and we are all happy knowing the town has been blessed by the beautiful smiling faces of Lord Jaganatha, Baladeva ,and lady Subhadra.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/IQiJzs

November 21. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: I have my service in his movement like everyone else, but regardless of whether my service differs from yours, we are all students at the feet of the guru. I don’t want to become like a jaded sense-gratifier, always needing more and more stimulation to get the same “high.” Prabhupada is enthusing me. I collect his memories and photographs to remind myself of that. To stay alive in Prabhupada memories, while remaining free of dilettantism, is to know that he has a current connection with us. Don’t relegate Prabhupada to the museum in your mind and think that you are the antiquarian collector of rare books and artifacts. Prabhupada is out preaching. I want to serve those devotees who have that “face-to-face with-Prabhupada” realization. I am poor in Prabhupada consciousness. Am I trying to compensate for that by collecting Prabhupada memorabilia? It’s okay, it works. But let me take the dust on my head of devotees who are alive for Prabhupada.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=2

The post Daily Darshan : November 21st, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The post Daily Darshan – November 20th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Be a Servant, Not a Dilettante

In my last post, I talked about how there are different types of devotees and we should be aware not all of them are of the same qualitative nature. Similarly, when we do outreach or as in ISKCON called preaching, there are different types of audiences.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (7.3) that among the millions of people, very few will know Him as He is. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made it more liberal by distributing this message to one and all. Srila Prabhupada following Mahaprabhu's footsteps took up that order of practically distributing this message. However, in many instances Prabhupada himself acknowledged that this Krishna consciousness movement is not for everyone in the sense that not all will accept it. Yet Prabhupada was always finding ways to present this message to the public at large even if only few may accept at the end. In that mood of large scale presentation (with the knowledge not all can appreciate the value), we have to strategically present this message.

I say strategic because not all audiences have the same mood, intellectual acumen and capacity to assimilate and digest the information. When we get into this place of relativity, then we also have to think about self image, marketing and messaging at all types of social, political, religious, economic etc levels to suit the particular audience. In other words, we have to employ all means to reach out to the public. As my boss in my office once said, which I liked, we have to "meet people where they are". In that spirit, we have to present the message without compromise and in digestible bits so the audience can bare the brunt of the message such as "we are not these bodies" and yes "we will die" etc.

So the challenge is presenting an Absolute truth in a relative setting maintaining the purity of the message and the messenger. Indeed, as Prabhupada said "purity is the force". Without purity of heart, this message will not penetrate the hearts of the audience. Besides,  if purity is lacking, there are always the chance that the messenger can go to the dark side.  Purity is cultivated through tolerance and perseverance. But ultimately we become pure by taking shelter of Krishna and come to the realization that we are not the ultimate doers but the instruments of Krishna.

I will end with this - Prabhupada once said that we are happy to sit under a tree and chant Hare Krishna but you (pointing to the reporters and general public) will not come if we simply did that, so we have to build big temples, dramas, music, food etc to attract as many as possible.

Hare Krishna.

Giriraja – The giver of shelter

“The main point for me in the Govardhana Lila,” said Kadamba Kanana Swami as he sat perched upon his bed with the harmonium in front of him, “is that Giriraja gives shelter to everyone. He gives shelter to the cows, the calves, the cowherd boys, the gopis and all the residents of Vrindavan.” Giriraja is the giver of shelter.

It was late afternoon on Diwali (11 November) and disciples were slowly filling the room as Maharaj led a mellow kirtan. This annual private party for Sri Giriraja Govinda, Maharaj’s Govardhana Sila, is a sweet and intimate affair. Maharaj had to go through a lot of trouble to make sure that it happened this year, including moving the “giant bed” from the guest room to the balcony, together with the rose sheets that he didn’t find impressive – all to accommodate the 25 disciples and friends who came with arms loaded with offerings.

In between the mantras during kirtan, Maharaj managed the whole affair from seating to storage, set-up and traffic control. This year was even more special as Maharaj called out, “Any architects?” and got down on his knees to build the hill himself. Disciples pitched in and in between pitting dates, I caught glimpses of the action – it looked a lot like Dad and the kids in a transcendental Lego championship. First the sweets where layered on. “Not like that,” Maharaj playfully chided the devotee who set them out in single profile, “You can use some creativity. Build something.” And all hell broke loose – or maybe heaven – as cookies and crumbles were combined with Vedic sweets, fruits, nuts… and buried somewhere under all of it were the halava kunds. “I’ve got dates, lots of dates. Any takers for dates?” Maharaj playfully auctioned off the bhoga to the builders. He added the final touch with a shower of nuts and raisins. Stepping back to admire the craftsmanship, he commented, “I think it’s impressive.”

The crowning glory was Maharaj placing little Giriraja on top, who was decked out a fancy turban for the occasion. As traditional, we circumambulated the hill, achieving the same benefit as the 23 km parikrama around Govardhana with much less strife. Maharaj, aided by a couple disciples, formed the demolition team and hill disappeared almost as quick as it manifested. Maharaj personally packed little leaf-cups of mahaprasasdam for all and ordered us to devour them on the spot. Some instructions are easier to follow than others! Everyone was armed with boxes of goodies to take away also. And he touched only the last crumbs on the table to his lips. Job done!

As we sat around his room, no one really wanting to leave, informal conversation ensued. A few questions flowed, some philosophical and some personal. One devotee mentioned that it was not so easy to get the personal association of the spiritual master. Maharaj countered that we should do something to attract that mercy – there are so many conditioned souls to rescue.

Eventually Maharaj just spoke what was on his mind – Brahmananda Prabhu. He said what impressed him was that the devotees present at the samadhi ceremony where such surrendered servants who sacrificed their lives and offered substantial service to Srila Prabhupada. They were each impressive on their own yet all they were impressed by Brahmananda Prabhu. He mentioned how once Brahmananda Prabhu and Gargamuni had broken into the book room in one temple and the devotees went to Srila Prabhupada to complain and Prabupada just said, “They have done so much. What can I do?” Maharaj pondered on how Brahmananda Prabhu was large in size and looked like a wrestler but really was at heart more philosophical and a teacher.

Eventually Nimai, Maharaj’s travel companion, entered the room with a bucket and cloth, ready to clean the floor and reluctantly, we took the hint and left but not without the promise of more to come on Govardhana Puja the next day.

Kartik is the festival of festivals and Govardhana Puja is one of the favourites. No fasting, full feasting and giant boulders of mercy. There was a myriad of activities and it was hard to choose where to go and who to listen to from the delectable menu. However, going to ISKCON Palace, located at the lotus feet of Govardhana Hill, was Maharaj’s first choice. It was easy to see why.  Smaller, more personal programs is the flavour he prefers. Arriving at the end of Vaisesika Prabhu’s morning class, Maharaj was asked to share some thoughts. “I’ve come here for my own purification,” he declared humbly, “to get some mercy by worshipping the cows and Giriraja.” He zoned in on the conversation between Indra and Krsna when Indra finally came to his senses in the Govardhana Lila.

Krsna: Indra, you are my devotee. How could you try to kill the residents of Vrindavan?
Indra: I was proud.
Krsna: But you are meant to check that pride with intelligence.
Indra: I was angry and therefore I lost my intelligence.
Krsna simply doesn’t respond.
Maharaj highlighted how a humble attitude attracts Krsna and vice versa.

And then it was time to worship the cows with incense, flowers, lamps ….and lots of goor (unrefined sugar). The Brahmin cow cocked her head with sweeping eyelashes in Maharaj’s direction as he offered the arati. She was an unmistakeable beauty.

Next we gathered at the foot hills of Govardhana. The abishek, bhoga and aratik was offered to Sri Giriraja himself in his mountainous form. Rivulets of milk flowed into the dust as all were given the opportunity to bathe Govardhana. The devotees sat in the dust of Vraja, softly chanting or swaying to the beat of the kirtan, drinking in the darshan of Sri Girriraja rising in front of them. It was a rare and special privilege. Maharaj led the kirtan during the arati and continued straight into prasadam. Under the watchful shelter of Giriraja, the devotees feasted.

Later that day, Maharaj left to Delhi enroute to Mayapur. At the grand kirtan festival, he had mentioned a passage of the Caitanya Bhagavata he really liked: Lord Nityananda came to Vrindavan and looked everywhere for Krsna but could not find Him. He asked the residents where Krsna was and they responded that Krsna had gone to Gauradesa and now resided there as Lord Caitanya. Nityananda immediately left to Mayapur. Seeing that Maharaj had the previous day set Sri Giriraja Govinda against the backdrop of the Yoga Pita (Lord Caitanya’s birth site) and Sri Sri Radha Madhava, it was obvious that Maharaj had Mayapur in mind too.

About Mahabhagavat Prabhu : 
His Grace Mahabhagavat Das, is a disciple of Sankarshan das Adhikari. Mahabhagavat Das along with his spouse are very senior well respected devotees in Toronto and are often associated along with the names of Vaisesika Prabhu for expanding the Sankirtan initiative across the GTA and South Western Ontario. Together as a family they have made preaching their life mission and will go beyond their limits to ensure that Srila Prabhupada’s books are being distributed.  

 



Fasting.....................on Sun Nov 22nd,2015
Breakfast................. on Mon Nov 23rd,2015 b/w 7.21am-10.29am
Every fortnight, we observe Ekadasi, a day of prayer and meditation. On this day we fast (or simplify our meals and abstain from grains and beans), and spend extra time reading the scriptures and chanting the auspicious Hare Krishna mantra.
English audio glorification of all Ekadasis is available here 

 

To register,contact usEmail:sundayschool108@gmail.comCall:647.893.9363
The Sunday School provides fun filled strategies through the medium of music, drama, debates, quizzes and games that present Vedic Culture to children. However the syllabus is also designed to simultaneously teach them to always remember Krishna and never forget Him. School
The Sunday School follows the curriculum provided by the Bhaktivedanta College of Education and Culture (BCEC).

Gift Shop
Our boutique is stocked with an excellent range of products, perfect for gifts or as souvenirs of your visit. It offers textiles, jewellery, incense, devotional articles, musical instruments, books, and CDs inspired by Indian culture.We're open on all Sundays and celebrations marked in our annual calendar.
 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Chant and Be happy

Joy of Devotion, a new documentary currently in production and set to be released in 2016 -- ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary year – will show what the seeds Srila Prabhupada planted 50 years ago thriving around the world.  Joy of Devotion will pick up where Yadubara Dasa’s Srila Prabhupada biopic Acharya – the other major film to be released during ISKCON’s 50^th – leaves off.

Thy gentle graces won our heart

We feel too weak to live apart

Prabhupada, whom we all revere

Our Guru, whom we hold so dear

O great saint of noblest heart

Auspicious the day you did depart

To the bright spiritual world above

Rewarded for thy faithful love

For Srila Prabhupada disappearance day, devotees at Radha Nila Madhava Temple, Seattle, gathered to offer their homages and worship. The children performed a drama of Srila Prabhupada’s pastimes.

 

ISKCON-sannyasi Gaur Krishna Das Goswami has left his body on 17^th of November 2015 in Vrindavan. Born on 22nd January, 1964 in Bihar, India, Gaur Krishna Das Goswami had recently got sanyyasa (renounced monk) initiation on May 14^th, 2015 at Haridwar on the banks of holy river Ganga from Radha Govinda Swami.