Fwd: To Krishna Bhakti das of the French Association of Vaishnavas

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--- Bhakti Ananda Goswami <bhakti.eohn

wrote:

> "Bhakti Ananda Goswami"

> <bhakti.eohn

> "Vrin Parker" <vrnparker

> To Krishna Bhakti das of the French

> Association of Vaishnavas

> Sun, 27 Apr 2003 01:40:42 -0700

>

>

> To Krishna Bhakti das of the French Association of

> Vaishnavas

>

> HARE KRISHNA !

>

> SRI SRI GURU AND GAURANGAS' NON SECTARIAN SANKIRTAN

> MOVEMENT KI JAYA !

> ALL GLORIES TO THE SAINTS AND HEROES OF GODHEAD'S

> DIVINE LOVE !

>

> Dear Krishna Bhakti das,

>

> Please accept my humble obeisances and my deep

> gratitude for your efforts to establish the French

> Association of Vaishnavas to unite the devotees of

> Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, and those of other Bhakti

> Traditions of Vaishnavism as well !

>

> UNITING ALL VAISHNAVAS...WHO ARE THE VAISHNAVAS

>

> Please consider the following words of the great

> Gaudiya Vaishnava Acaryas Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode

> and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur from

> their Book "Vaishnavism and Nam-Bhajan". On pages

> two and three, these two illustrious Chaitanyaite

> Vaishnava Saints give the following astounding

> definition of "Vaishnava".

>

> " VAISHNAVA

> Real Vaishnavism: The word 'Vaishnavism' indicates

> the normal, eternal and natural condition, functions

> and devotional characteristics of all

> individua-souls in relation to Vishnu, the Supreme,

> the All-pervading Soul. But an unnatural, unpleasant

> and regrettable sense has been attributed to the

> word making one understand by the word, Vaishnava

> (literally a pure and self-less worshipper of

> Vishnu) a human form with twelve peculiar

> signs(Tilak) and dress on, worshipping many gods

> under the garb of a particular God and hating any

> other human form who marks himself with different

> signs, puts on a different dress and worships a

> different God in a different way and designated by

> the words 'Shaiva', 'Shakta', 'Ganapatya', 'Jaina',

> 'Buddhist', 'Mahomedan', 'Christian' etc.

>

> This is the most unnatural, unpleasant and

> regrettable sense of the word, 'Vaishnava', which

> literally and naturally means one who worships

> Vishnu out of pure love expecting nothing from Him

> in return.

>

> Vishnu, the Supreme, All-pervading Soul, gives life

> and meaning to all that is. He is the highest

> unchallengeable Truth devoid of illusion everywhere

> and existing through eternity. He is Sat, ever

> existing, Chit, all-knowing, Ananda, ever-blissful

> and fully free. He is in jivas and jivas are in

> Him, as are the rays in the glowing sun and the

> particles of water in the vast rolling ocean. As

> nothing but heat and light of the sun, and coldness

> and liquidity etc. of the sea is found in the

> constituents of the rays and the particles of water

> respectively, so nothing but Sat, Chit or free will

> and Ananda is found in the jiva. The ingredients

> and attributes of the whole must remain in the part

> in a smaller degree. So the part it identical with

> the whole when taken qualitatively and different

> when taken quantitatively. This is the true and

> eternal relation between jiva and Vishnu. So He

> always prevails over jiva who is ever subject to

> Him. As the service of the master is the

> fundamental function of the servant, so the service

> of Vishnu is natural and inherent in jiva and it is

> called Vaishnavata or Vaishnavism and every jiva is

> a Vaishnava. As a person possessing immense riches

> is called a miser if he does not display and make

> proper use of them, so jivas when they do not

> display Vaishnavata are called Non-Vaishnavas or

> Vaishnavas though in reality they are so."

>

> and from "THE BHAGAVATA" we read on page 18...

>

> "The superiority of Bhagavan consists in the uniting

> of all sorts of theistical worship into one

> excellent principle in human nature which passes by

> the name bhakti. This word has no equivalent in

> the English Language. Piety, devotion, resignation,

> and spiritual love unalloyed with any sort of

> petition except in the way of repentance, compose

> the highest principle of Bhakti. The Bhagavata tells

> us to worship God in that great and invaluable

> principle which is infinitely superior to human

> knowledge and the principle of yoga.

>

> Our short compass will not admit of an explanation

> of the principle of bhakti beautifully rising from

> its first stage of application in the form of

> brahmic worship in the shape of admiration which is

> styled the shanta-rasa, to the fifth or the highest

> stage of absolute union in Love with God, sweetly

> styled the madhurya-rasa of prema-bhakti. A full

> explanation will take a big volume which is not our

> objective here to compose. Suffice it to say that

> the principle of bhakti passes five distinct stages

> in the course of its development into its highest

> and purest form. Then again when it reaches the last

> form, it is susceptible of further progress from the

> stage of prema (Love) to that of mahabhava which is

> in fact a complete transition into the spiritual

> universe where God alone is the Bridegroom of our

> soul."

>

> and on page 32...

>

> "The Bhagavata, therefore, allows us to call Vyasa

> and Narada as shaktyavesh avataras of the infinite

> energy of God, and the spirit of the text goes far

> to honour all great reformers and teachers who lived

> and will live in other countries. The Vaishnava is

> ready to honour all great men without distinction of

> caste, because they are filled with the energy of

> God. See how universal is the religion of the

> Bhagavata. It is not intended for a certain class of

> Hindus alone, but it is a gift to man at large, in

> whatever country he is born and in whatever society

> he is bred. In short, Vaishnavism is the Absolute

> Love binding all men together into the infinite

> unconditioned and absolute God. May it, peace,

> reign forever in the whole universe in the continual

> development of its purity by the exertion of the

> future heroes, who will be blessed according to the

> promise of the Bhagavata with powers from the

> Almighty Father, the Creator, Preserver and the

> Annihilator of all things in Heaven and Earth."

>

> Srila Bhaktivinode, born in 1838, also said (page

> 32) "Plato looked at the peak of the Spiritual

> question from the West and Vyasa made the

> observation from the East."

>

> Regarding divisive sectarianism or the 'party

> spirit' he also wrote in "THE BHAGAVATA":

>

> "The true critic is a generous judge, void of

> prejudices and party spirit. One who is at heart the

> follower of Mohammed will certainly find the

> doctrines of the New Testament to be a forgery by

> the fallen angel. A Trinitarian Christian, on the

> other hand, will denounce the precepts of Mohammed

> as those of an ambitious reformer. The reason is

> simply that the critic should be of the same

> disposition of mind as the author whose merits he is

> required to judge. Thoughts have different ways.

> One who is trained up in the thoughts of the

> Unitarian Society or of the Vedanta of the Benares

> school, will scarcely find any piety in the faith of

> the Vaishnavas. An ignorant Vaishnava, on the

> other hand, whose business it is to beg from door to

> door in the name of Nityananda, will find no piety

> in the Christians. This is because the Vaishnava

> does not think in the way in which the Christian

> thinks of his own religion. It may be that both

> the Christian and the Vaishnava will utter the same

> sentiment, but they will never stop their fight with

> each other only because they have arrived at their

> common conclusion by different ways of thought.

> Thus it is that a great deal of ungenerousness

> enters into the arguments of the pious Christians

> when they pass their imperfect opinion on the

> religion of the Vaishnavas."

>

> and finally Srila Bhaktivinode has lamented ...

> "Oh! What a trouble it is to get rid of prejudices

> gathered in unripe years!"

>

> So in the above few carefully chosen words of two of

> our great Vaishnava Acaryas, we see a concise

> description of the prejudice that continues to

> divide us as JIVAS AND VAISHNAVAS, and OF THE

> TRANSCENDENT LOVE THAT CAN UNITE US AS JIVAS AND

> VAISHNAVAS IN A GENEROUS SPIRIT OF NON SECTARIAN

> PURE BHAKTI.

>

> External matters of race, class, dress, lineage

> markings, language, ritual differences etc. are not

> significant when compared to the fact that we are

> all jiva 'children' of the same GOD. What is

> spiritually significant however, is our fundamental

> difference in devotion as a matter of RASA, or our

> natural taste for specific FLAVORS (RASAS) of Divine

> Love, in our personal relationships with God. While

> these various Flavors (SHANTA, DASA, SHAKYA,

> VATSALYA, MADHURYA) and their tasteful combinations

> may predominate in various religions, and even in

> different lineages of the same religion, they should

> never be a cause of the sins of so-called 'spiritual

> pride' or prejudice, and hostility towards other

> devotees of our One Lord. Our differences in

> devotional rasas are in fact A CAUSE FOR

> CELEBRATION! Such variegatedness in Divine Love

> accommodates the unique capacity to

> love-and-be-loved of every being ! We exist as

> unique persons of free-will for no other reason than

> to express this God-given capacity !

>

> So let us celebrate our tasteful diversity in the

> all-inclusive unity of non sectarian Divine Love.

> The Charismatic Sankirtan Movement of Sri Sri

> Gaura-Nitai was not meant to be a sectarian campaign

> restricted to those who worshipped Sri Caitanya or

> Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in a single lineage. Nor was

> it meant to simply unite the various factions of

> Madhva-related Vaishnavas, or even only the 'Hindu'

> Vaishnavas! The non sectarian Sankirtan Movement of

> Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's time embraced, and was

> embraced by even Shaivites, Muslims and Buddhists !

> This is because it was truly non sectarian and

> universal in its appeal to the very heart of

> peoples' divinely inherent desire and ability to

> love and be loved ! If we study global religious

> history, we can see that NAM-BHAJAN or the simplest

> form of the heart-felt invocation of GOD by His Holy

> Name (which is INFINITE) is common to all the great

> BHAKTI TRADITIONS. Vaishnavas, Catholics, Jews,

> Muslims, Pure Land Buddhists, Shaivites, members of

> many Indigenous Traditions and other devotees of the

> Supreme Lord, since ancient times and to the

> present, practiced and still practice NAM-BHAJAN.

> Our Acaryas have emphasized that The Absolute, Sri

> Krishna-Vishnu-Paramatma has hundreds and millions

> of Holy Names and there are NO hard-as-fast rules

> for invoking Him by any of them ! As our loving

> Most Significant Other (King, Model Citizen, Master,

> Servant, Friend, Parent, Child, or Lover) God

> delights to hear His Name from our lips and to know

> that we desire His company within our hearts ! To

> invoke God by His Name is to acknowledge His Being

> and to re-establish our (forgotten) unique personal

> relationship with Him. The pleasure that the

> Absolute experiences, when the finite jiva

> acknowledges Him, is gifted back to the jiva

> unlimitedly as the jiva hears God's own loving reply

> in the depths of their soul !

>

> Before NAMA / THE NAME, there is certainly SAT and

> CHIT, but with the dawn of GOD'S HOLY NAME ALONE,

> comes the PERSONAL revelation of the Supreme

> Personality of Godhead, with HIS BHAKTI and ANANDA

> of LOVE and BLISS. Thus it is the mission of the

> non sectarian Bhakti Sankirtan Movement to REVIVE

> the love affair of ALL JIVAS / VAISHNAVAS with THEIR

> LORD, through promotion of the simplest and most

> sublime practice of NAM-BHAJAN, or invocation of the

> Lord through His infinite Holy Name. In solitary

> prayer (JAPA), or in communal prayer through

> SANKIRTAN, the heart-felt invocation of THE HOLY

> NAME, NAM BHAJAN, God's LOGOS (Greek Catholic) or

> HASHEM (Hebrew Jewish), etc. reunites the soul and

> souls with Godhead. Thus God's Self introduction or

> Self-revelation to humanity in His Holy Name, is

> humanity's invitation to awaken from mere Being

> (Sat) and Consciousness (Chit) to the Bliss (Ananda)

> of God's Love Divine.

>

> May all the Lord's Saints and Our Lady Radha / Rosa

> Mystica, Narayani / Mariam, Vasudevi / Basilea,

> Rajani / Regina Queen of Heaven, and Mother Most

> Tolerant / Tulasi bless you all in your efforts !

>

> "May it, peace, reign forever in the whole universe

> in the continual development of its purity by the

> exertion of the future heroes, who will be blessed

> according to the promise of the Bhagavata with

> powers from the Almighty Father, the Creator,

> Preserver and the Annihilator of all things in

> Heaven and Earth."

>

> May the Servitor Lord and Second Person of the

> Godhead, The Original Spiritual Master, Who IS THE

> NAME / WORD INCARNATE, and Who takes away the sins

> of every world.... may He Who Protects and delivers

> all devotees, may He protect and guide you in your

> efforts. Lord Bala Deva Yashas Purusha Yupa Dhvaja

> ki jaya !

>

> May that Lord as Sri Nityananda Bala Rama be the

> constant inspiration of all your Gaudiya Vaishnava

> members as they prosecute the NON SECTARIAN

> SANKIRTAN MOVEMENT OF SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU FOR

> THE BENEFIT OF ALL JIVAS / ALL VAISHNAVA DEVOTEES OF

> THE LORD AND OUR LADY !

>

> AMEN ! AUM ! and HARE KRISHNA !

>

> with loving prayers for your success,

>

> your aspiring servant,

>

> Bhakti Ananda Goswami

> Tridandi Sannyasi,

> Founding Interfaith Committee Coordinator, World

> Vaishnava Association Interfaith Committee

>

 

 

 

 

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