#caitanya

[haribolnamaste]

Lord Chaitanya dreams

#krishna #krsna #radha #radharani #gopis #krishnaprema #radhakrishna #flute #gauranga #chaitanya #caitanya #sannyas #sleep #dreams #sweetdreams #dance #rasa #longing #madhurya

[theinfinitesmile]

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Mangalacharanam

[art1for2the3masses]

Jadurani Devi Dasi, Junior Haridasa Sings for Lord Caitanya, 1975

[nicksalius]

Perché e come meditare? - Iskcon

Un interessante ed esauriente articolo sulla meditazione secondo il rispettabile punto di vista Hare Krishna. Vi suggerisco di leggerlo in quanto la tecnica spiegata ha, a mio avviso, rimarchevoli assonanze con altri metodi più specificatamente trattati in queste pagine. Cominciamo, innanzitutto, con un riepilogo orientativo. “Popolarità della Meditazione”: la meditazione sta diventando sempre…

[krishnaart]

☀ SHRI RADHA ☀      

“Shri Radha is parama-devata, the Supreme Goddess, and She is worshipable for everyone. She is the protectress of all, and She is the mother of the entire universe.”~Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi 4.89

[33-108]

"The Glory of Svātantrya Śakti : in the light of Kashmir Shaivism

In the grand and ancient pursuit of the recognition of one’s Self, the Ātman, various Ṛṣīs of yore have provided us with various descriptions and associated methodologies, in the form of the various Bhārathīya Darśanās. Each of these Darśanās define Reality in various ways depending on the criteria that are being used by the Dārshanikās. Criteria such as Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Permanence, etc. are utilized in these descriptions based on the framework that is used to define Reality. However, Kashmir Shaivism is unique, in that, it defines Reality as self-revealed (Sat) and of the nature of supreme Independence or Svātantrā. It is this criterion of Svātantrya, as one’s original nature, that we will explore in this post.

“caitanyamatma” – “The independent state of supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.”- Śiva Sutra 1.1

The Kashmiri Śaiva Śāstrās reveal that the nature of the Self is Caitanya i.e. the independent state of supreme consciousness. However, what exactly does this independence mean? Why is Svātantrya considered a Śakti (Power) and to whom does it belong? What is its Effulgence and Glory?

By Independence, two important inseparable aspects are emphasized here. Firstly, it is “independence to” act with full freedom. Svātantrya means the Power to know and act according to one's will ie. it is the unimpeded, unrestrained flow of expression of the Divine Will. Secondly, it is the “independence from” any other higher reality. Since the highest Reality, by definition, cannot depend on a more “permanent” reality, it is “independent from” all else that exists. In fact, everything that exists (and doesn’t exist), depends on this reality.

The Shaivācāryas teach us that both these aspects of Independence are found only in One Being – Lord Śiva. Thus, Svātantrya is the nature of the supreme reality, which is referred to by the name Śiva, or in other words, Svātantrya is the Śakti (power) that uniquely belongs to Lord Śiva. As Swami Lakshmanjoo explains in his commentary on the Śiva Sutras - “The singularly unique aspect of Lord Śiva is complete independence, Svātantrya. This complete independence is not found anywhere except in the state of Lord Śiva.” This is what has been stated in the Āgamas as well – “That supreme (Svātantrya) independent energy of Lord Śiva is said to be one with Lord Śiva”. (Malinivijaya Tantra 3.5)

That being said, Svātantrya Śakti is not something that is far away from our experience. It is the very heart of our experience. As it says in the Iśvara Pratyabhiña Śāstra, "The Divine Power is known as Citi. Its essence is Self-Consciousness. It is also known as Parā Vāk. It is, in itself, ever present, eternal. It is Svātantrya. It is the main Power of the Supreme Self." Iśvara Pr. 1. Pg 203-4

This description is further explained by the actualization of Svātantrya in the form of the manifest universe. As the first sutra of Pratyabhiñāhṛdayam says “citiḥ svatantrā viśva-siddhi-hetuḥ” – “The absolute Citi of its own free will is the cause of the Siddhi of the universe.” Therefore, whatever we experience is caused by and is reflected in Svātantrya Śakti. We may be unaware of it at the moment, yet it is the cause and substance of everything that we experience in our lives.

Why then, is the proper understanding of the nature of Śiva’s Svātantrya Śakti important to us?

Ācārya Abhinavagupta explains in the Tantrāloka (1.31), that Moksha or liberation is said to be attained only when one becomes Svātantra-atma (a being who possesses Svātantrya Śakti). Without this recognition and consequently, the attainment of moksha, all else is worthless. Therefore, the exploration and recognition of this aspect, the singular Power of the Self, is the most important pursuit of our life and the only one worth pursuing.

There are many ways to explore the nature and glory of Svātantrya Śakti. Ācārya Kṣemaraja in his famous work, Parā Prāveśika explains that – “vimarśa, self-reflective consciousness, is nominated by various names in the tantras. It is called cit (consciousness), caitanyam (the strength of consciousness), svarasoditā parāvāk (the supreme word), svātantryam (perfect independence), paramātmano mukhyam aiśvaryaṁ (the predominant glory of supreme Śiva), kartṛtvam (the power of acting), sphurattā (the power of existing), sāra (the complete essence of everything), hṛdayam (the universal heart) and spanda (universal movement).”

By understanding Svātantrya and all its various aspects, we gain a holistic understanding of its Glory and Effulgence. We also find ways to recognize its reflection in each and every movement of our life and through its recognition we gain entry into the state of Śiva."

Jayadev

[tamblr]

Intro to Tantric Shaivism: II - Kashmiri Shaivism

In my previous write-ups I explained what Tantra is and gave a brief introduction to Tantric Shaivism. In this write-up I’ll continue my exploration of Tantric Shaivism by introducing one of the most sophisticated traditions of Tantric Shaivism: Kashmiri Shaivism. I won’t talk about the sages who inspired these schools as I think that will make the essay way too long but instead focus on the main philosophy of each school within Kashmiri Shaivism. The three main active schools of thought within Tantric Shaivism today are Kashmiri Shaivism, Saiva siddhanta and Aghori. 

Kashmiri Shaivism is also known as the Trika system. It is a monistic tradition but cannot be defined as one school of thought but rather a collective of different schools that originated in Kashmir, namely: Pratyabhijna, Kula, Spanda, and Krama schools. 

It is known as the Trika system because they believe that the world contains three energies: 

Para (transcendental) - para 

Parapara (subtle) - sukshma 

Apara (gross) - sthula 

The right hand side of the names: sthula, sukshma and para are the names of these energies in the saiva siddhanta tradition. 

Pratyabhijna 

The word pratyabhijna means “to spontaneously once again recognize and realize your Self.” Here you have only to realize, you do not have to practice. There are no upayas (means) in the Pratyabhijna system. You must simply recognize who you are. This teaching, therefore, is situated chiefly in anupaya, which is that means where there are no means at all. It is the recognition that there was nothing to be done and nowhere to go. Here, there is no practice, no concentration and no meditation.

The purpose of Pratyabhijñā is the recognition of the Śiva nature of the world (and oneself). In order to achieve that, it is necessary to induce a modified state of consciousness through the use of Śakti. Śakti, loosely translated as energy, is the dynamic aspect of Śiva, the link between finite (the human subject) and infinite (Śiva). Thus comes about the fundamental principle: "Without the help of Śakti, pratyabhijñā is impossible”. 

2. Kula 

Abhinavagupta, one of the main Sages of this tradition, tells us that the term Kula is derivable from the root kul, which can mean a grouping together. From this meaning we can derive one of the meanings of Kula, a human grouping, namely a family, or more specifically a spiritual family that extends as far back as Siva himself. This lineage is unified by the sequential transmission of the achieved vision of the ultimate. 

The Kula system teaches you how you can live in caitanya  (universal Consciousness), the real nature of yourself, in the act of ascending and descending. While you rise from the lowest to the highest you realize your nature, and while you descend from the highest to the lowest you also realize your nature.

The difference between the Pratyabhijna system and the Kula system is, that the Pratyabhijna system teaches you how to realize your own nature in one place and exist there, reside there. While the Kula system teaches you how you can rise from the lowest degree to the highest degree, and all the while, experience the nature of your Self on the same level and state. Shiva, which is realized in prithvi tattva (earth element), is the same level, the same reality of Shiva which is realized in Shiva tattva. Here, there is complete realization in every act of the world.

3. Spanda 

The word spanda means “movement.” The Spanda school recognizes that nothing can exist without movement. Where there is movement there is life, and where there is no movement that is lifelessness. Spanda is the vibration or the pulse of consciousness. Every activity in the universe, as well as every perception, notion, sensation or emotion in the microcosm, ebbs and flows as part of the universal rhythm of the one reality, which is Siva ,the one God who is the pure conscious agent and perceiver. 

According to the Doctrine of Vibration, man can realise his true nature to be Siva by experiencing Spanda, the dynamic, recurrent and creative activity of the absolute. It is Spanda, the inscrutable pulse of consciousness, that moves and yet moves not, that changes and yet remains eternally itself, that ensures~that both manifestation and the absolute, its unmanifest source, form part of a single process which passes freely from one to the other in such a way that both poles are the same level and equally real.

The difference between the Pratyabhijna school and Spanda are that the spanda school emphasises on the recognition and experience of the vibration of consciousness while the former emphasises direct experience of Siva as oneself.

4. Krama

Krama system shows the development of Saktha tendencies in Saiva philosophy. Based on the Kālīkula (Kālī worship) branch of Tantric Śaivism, Krama means (‘sequence’) which internalized ritual worship of goddesses as the cyclical phases (krama) of one’s own awareness. The Krama system moves in space and time, but finally leads to Paramaśiva, who is beyond space and time. 

Ritual came to be understood as an inner process of realisation through which the initiate discovered his/her essential identity with Kali, who is the flow (krama) of the power of consciousness through the polarities of subject, object and means of knowledge in consonance with their arising and falling away in each act of perception.

The experience of this process coupled with the arousing of man's spiritual potential (kundalini) and the expansion of consciousness that brings it about is the most esoteric practice of the Krama system of Kashmiri Saivism. 

Kashmir Shaivism shares many parallel points of agreement with the lesser known monistic school of Shaiva Siddhanta as expressed in the Tirumantiram of Tirumular. This is a very brief introduction to the different schools of thought within Kashmiri Shaivism. It is important to recognise that these philosophies draw on each other as inspiration for their practices and contain less hard drawn lines. In the next piece I’ll talk about Saiva siddhanta. 

P.S. As usual if you want the links to the resources I referenced, more than happy to send them your way.

[haribolnamaste]

Jaya Jaya Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

[devotoharekrisna]

YUKTA VAIRĀGYA - Appropriate Renunciation

By Lokasākṣī Dāsa “It is everyone’s duty to control their own mind by giving it some minimal sensory gratification, just as a horse is controlled by offering it a handful of grass. This is called appropriate renunciation (yukta-vairāgya). Through this process, one can make spiritual progress in chanting.”(Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura, Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta 6.5) The Sanskrit word vairāgya, usually…

[gkgquotes]

My real desire is that you not only offer flower but you become good devotees, increase taste (ruchi) towards holy name and scriptures and increase your service mood. We should always be in mood that we have to become instruments to spread the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and this is the real means by which we can make spiritual master happy. - @gopal_krishna_goswami

[iskconchd]

Mayapur Chandrodaya temple is meant for transcendental United Nation. What the United Nation has failed, that will be achieved here by the process recommended by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Mayapur, January 15, 1976

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

“Although the gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s friends, do not desire to enjoy themselves directly with Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī makes a great endeavor to induce Kṛṣṇa to enjoy Himself with the gopīs." ~CC Madhya 8.212 ISKCON

[cyprianscafe]

Madhusudana Sarasvati

O intelectual hindu bengali Madhusūdana Sarasvatī (fl. 1500–início de 1600) foi um dos últimos grandes expositores pré-coloniais da tradição da filosofia/teologia não dualista sânscrita conhecida como Advaita Vedānta. Madhusūdana floresceu durante o reinado do Imperador Akbar (1556–1605), e era bem conhecido pela corte Mughal na época da composição do Jūg Bāsisht¹; com base nos dados disponíveis, ele muito possivelmente viveu durante o reinado de Jahāngīr (1605–27) e uma parte do reinado de Shāh Jahān (1627–58) também. Nascido em Bengala, Madhusūdana passou grande parte de sua carreira acadêmica em Varanasi (Vārāṇasī), um grande centro de aprendizado de sânscrito onde a tradição Advaita Vedānta, em particular, desfrutava de um status proeminente. Entre as composições de Madhusūdana está seu comentário sobre o Śivamahimnaḥ-stotra de Puṣpadanta, conhecido como Mahimnaḥ-stotra-ṭīkā; contido neste comentário, e mais tarde circulado como um tratado independente, está a bem conhecida doxografia sânscrita de Madhusūdana, o Prasthānabheda (“As Divisões das Abordagens”), que este capítulo considerará com algum detalhe. Aproximadamente na mesma época, Madhusūdana também escreveu sua obra filosófica mais influente, o Advaitasiddhi (“O Estabelecimento do Não-Dualismo”), em resposta à crítica estendida do pensamento Advaita oferecida no Nyāyāmṛta de Vyāsatīrtha (m. 1539), uma figura proeminente na escola rival do Dvaita (“dualista”) Vedānta. Uma vibrante tradição de comentários se liga ao Advaitasiddhi e às outras obras de Madhusūdana até o período colonial e continuando até o final do século XX, uma das várias atestações do impacto duradouro e poderoso de Madhusūdana dentro dos círculos intelectuais sânscritos. Do período colonial em diante, além disso, Madhusūdana exerceria um tipo diferente de influência nos esforços nacionalistas orientalistas e hindus para articular uma identidade “hindu” essencialista e unificada, na qual seu Prasthānabheda desempenhou um papel.

Os próprios tratados de Madhusūdana revelam muito pouco sobre os detalhes de sua vida, além de seus professores e (de forma útil) os outros tratados que ele escreveu, enquanto nenhum outro registro foi descoberto que pudesse fixar suas datas ou local de nascimento sem sombra de dúvida. No entanto, vários estudiosos modernos se esforçaram para extrair cada gota potencial de informação biográfica de seus escritos — os debates sobre as datas de Madhusūdana poderiam quase constituir um subcampo por si só! — enquanto um corpo considerável de lendas locais, histórias orais e outros dados anedóticos também foram trazidos para o tópico. Embora classificar os dados confiáveis ​​dos não confiáveis ​​possa envolver suposições incertas, no mínimo, uma imagem provável da figura pode ser alcançada, juntamente com alguns episódios biográficos possíveis e menos certos. Além disso, estudiosos modernos também utilizaram a linhagem de ensino de Madhusūdana em uma tentativa de reconstruir as redes sociais e intelectuais das quais ele participou.

É geralmente aceito que, com toda a probabilidade, Madhusūdana veio da região de Bengala. Em uma de suas primeiras obras, o Vedāntakalpalatikā, Madhusūdana faz duas referências à divindade Jagannātha de Puri como o “Senhor da montanha azul” (nīlācala), uma forma de Kṛṣṇa associada à região da atual Orissa, no leste da Índia. Este local era um importante centro de peregrinação para os bengalis, particularmente aqueles associados ao movimento bengali Vaiṣṇava de Caitanya (falecido em 1533), que estava ganhando impulso considerável na época de Madhusūdana. P.M. Modi argumenta, com base em certas referências a Varanasi no Advaitaratnarakṣaṇa, Gūḍārthadīpikā e Advaitasiddhi de Madhusūdana, que ele também deve ter vivido lá por um tempo, dando assim credibilidade aos relatos tradicionais esmagadores de Madhusūdana conduzindo seus ensinamentos e escrevendo de lá. Em seu Advaitasiddhi e Gūḍārthadīpikā, Madhusūdana também menciona um de seus preceptores em nyāya (lógica), Hari Rāma Tarkavāgīśa, com quem Madhusūdana provavelmente estudou em Navadvīpa, um dos principais centros de aprendizado de nyāya. Em sete de seus tratados, Madhusūdana menciona ainda Viśveśvara Sarasvatī como seu guru āśrama, isto é, o preceptor de quem ele recebeu iniciação no modo de vida renunciante (saṃnyāsa), provavelmente em Varanasi; no Advaitasiddhi, Madhusūdana menciona adicionalmente Mādhava Sarasvatī como “aquele por cuja graça [eu] compreendi o significado das escrituras”, isto é, seu instrutor nas disciplinas de mīmāṃsā e vedānta, provavelmente também em Varanasi. Em seus próprios escritos, Madhusūdana cita com mais frequência, entre seus predecessores Advaita, as figuras de Śaṅkarācārya, Maṇḍaṇa Miśra, Sureśvara, Prakāśātma Yati, Vācaspati Miśra, Sarvajñātman Muni, Śrī Harṣa, Ānandabodha e Citsukha.

Além deste esboço biográfico bastante fino disponível nos próprios escritos de Madhusūdana, os estudiosos tiveram que confiar em fontes externas mais questionáveis ​​para mais detalhes de sua vida. P.C. Divanji e Anantakrishna Sastri, por exemplo, coletaram vários relatos de famílias paṇḍit em Bengala e Varanasi que reivindicam Madhusūdana como ancestral, juntamente com um pequeno corpus de crônicas familiares e históricas — mais proeminentemente, um manuscrito intitulado Vaidikavādamīmāṃsā — que afirmam o nascimento e a linhagem bengalis de Madhusūdana. Esses materiais dão o nome de nascimento de Madhusūdana como Kamalanayana (ou Kamalajanayana), um dos quatro irmãos nascidos em Koṭālipāḍā no distrito de Faridpur, no leste de Bengala. Diz-se que sua família migrou do supracitado Navadvīpa, em Bengala Ocidental — o grande centro de aprendizado de Nyāya e do movimento devocional Caitanya (bhakti) — onde, após seu aprendizado inicial com Hari Rāma Tarkavāgīśa, o jovem Kamalanayana foi enviado para aprender Nyāya mais avançado com o célebre Mathuranātha Tarkavāgīśa (fl. ca. 1575). Foi daqui que Kamalanayana teria resolvido se tornar um renunciante (saṃnyāsin), e então partiu para Varanasi. Lá, Kamalanaya teria se tornado “Madhusūdana” após seu encontro com Viśveśvara Sarasvatī, que o iniciou em saṃnyāsa; Madhusūdana também empreendeu seu treinamento em mīmāṃsā e vedānta sob Mādhava Sarasvatī nessa época. Quando ele começou a compor seus próprios numerosos tratados, a reputação de Madhusūdana como um estudioso e sábio cresceu a ponto de atrair vários discípulos; ele também ganhou uma reputação como um grande devoto de Kṛṣṇa até sua morte aos 107 anos em Haridvār.

Translating Wisdom: Hindu-Muslim Intellectual Interactions in Early Modern South Asia- Shankar Nair

¹ - Tradução persa do Laghu Yoga-Vasistha.