Nityananda Caritamrta

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> Isvara Prabhu--you have written that you consulted several scholars about

> this book. Yet, not every scholar is to be accepted as an authority. Nasav

> rsir yasya matam na bhinnam. Better that we consult accepted authorities

> within our line. Even Dr. Kapoor, great soul that he is, accepts Gauranga

> dasa Babaji of the "nitai gaura radhe shyam" line as his siksa-guru.

 

This book Nityananda-caritamrta has been around in Bengali for long time,

and it is definitely (as I mentioned before), not a product of Nityananda

Parivara. It is quite unfortunate that due to sectarianism, vaisnavas would

often discard an authentic scripture. There are several branches of Caitanya

Mahaprabhu and Nitynananda Prabhu's tree. Each of those branches surely have

its own heritages of scriptural guidance. There may be some disagreement

that Lord Nityananda did not have seminal lineage as Virabhadra Prabhu did

not marry. But it is a fact there is a Nityananda Vat in Vrindavana, whose

sevakas are purportedly the descendants of Lord Nityananda. Has there been

anybody to disprove this fact? There are many literatures of Gaudiya line

such as Caitanya Mangala, Prema-vilasa, Bhakti Ratnakara and a few others

that were alleged to be unbonafide by sectarian minded vaisnavas. The fact

is reading these books do increase a bhakta's progress on the path to

Godhead. One Orriya Vaisnava poet had written:

 

"kali yuge aneka vaisnava hoibe tattave na yani naraka ku yibe" that "In

Kali yuga many people may become Vaisnava but without knowing the tattva,

they will go to hell"

 

Nowadays, Vaisnavas are unwilling to digest information that may be somewhat

different from what they might heard from their immediate authorities. Even

people who heard from the same guru have difference of opinions as what the

conclusions of the sastras are. All the disciples of Srila Bhaktissidhanta

definitely have different opinions as to what are his teachings and

instructions. If not why do we see different branches of Gaudiya Matha

today. Similarly all disciples of Srila Prabhupada do not have the same

opinion as the understanding of Srila Prabhupada's teachings and

instructions are. Otherwise ISKCON will be a united organisation today.

Just because you don't beleive that Lord Nityananda had a descendant, and I

beleive so, does that make me an offender. We should use mature intelligence

on in deliberating on these points.

 

> The facts remain that (a) although ascribed to Vrindavan das, the

> authorship is dubious; and (b) the last 3 chapters are in particular

> questionable.

 

In this case you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the authorship

is not Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakura. Apart from the line cited in the verse

of the 11th chapter, you have to prove line by line what is questionable in

those last three chapters. You are saying that someone impersonated

Vrindavana Dasa Thakura, to enhance the glories of Nityananda-vamsa, this I

completely disagree with you.

 

> I hope that in your enthusiasm to glorify Lord Nityananda, you have not

> instead made offenses to His lotus feet by publishing words wrongly

> ascribed to Him by materialistic people motivated by the desire to cheat

> others.

 

What authourities do you have to say that? I am publishing works left behind

by previous mahajanas especially the followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

These works were not created for materialistic intentions. So how could you

say these words were ascribed by materialist people? We should study an

issue much more thouroughly before making our own judgements.

As of this writing, I have not heard from any ISKCON schorlars expressing

their objections to this book. I have been instead be getting lots of praise

and encouragement for publishing this book. When I initially asked Mahanidhi

Swami about whether I should publish the book or not due to this very issue,

he at once gave me the encouragement to publish it. In making the decision

of the publication, I had to use Franklin method of making decisions. The

decision to publish it far outweigh the decision not to publish it,

therefore I went ahead with the publication, and it has been quite

appreciated by the majority of devotees.