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Guru Maharaja's Siksastakam

Agnideva Dasa - February 16, 2006 3:59 am

After reading just the first chapter of Siksastakam I have to say that without a doubt this proves that Swami B.V. Tripurari has received the blessings of his gurus in the disciplic succession. His wonderful offering of this most precious and important book is a must companion for any and every practioner of the chanting of the holy names of Krsna. I for one will read it over and over again.

Dhiralalita - February 16, 2006 3:46 pm

There has been so much talk about a simple DVD, but Sripad Tripurari Swami's new book Shikshastakam deserves much publicity and should be the latest gossip in town. Maharaja has become very fluid in his style, very poetic, and in this book he has become Lord Chaitanya's mouth. Ambrosial realised nectar flows from the lines. This book is a companion for chanting and it also reveals much important verses and scriptures references. It is a necklace of pearls of wisdom that everyone should wear around their neck.

Nanda-tanuja Dasa - February 16, 2006 7:09 pm

Sripad Tripurari Swami's new book Shikshastakam deserves much publicity and should be the latest gossip in town.

People are quiet because they are still reading the book, I think. I personally find it so loaded with knowledge that it’s been very difficult for me to digest more then 3-4 pages a day, so it will take me sometime to finish it.

Caitanya-daya Dd - February 17, 2006 7:31 am

stop making me jealous, everyone.

Nanda-tanuja Dasa - February 17, 2006 5:27 pm

Are you back to States? I have a copy for you.

Dhiralalita - February 18, 2006 3:29 pm

This book is not only well written but is accompanied by really useful, nectarian notes. It also has a glossary of difficult terminology and it is so useful that way. As i was reading it this morning, i was reflecting on the different systems for success. some of those systems advocate that you follow only them because it just helps you focus all your energy on a paticular program and you have a better chance of success that way. This book is some sort of transcendental "system " if you like, whereby you can successfully perform your sadhana if you just immerse yourself in it. So, this is the Book, a concentrated folio to help us with for all our most cherishes needs to chant better and more.

Gauravani Dasa - April 20, 2006 3:56 pm

"Swami Tripurari's Siksastakam (translation and commentary) conveys a taste, a drop, of Gaudiya Vaishnavism's depth and profundity, just to whet the readers’ appetites. To do more would be impossible. The full story, due to its enormity, variety, and spiritual intensity, resists comprehensive treatment, and omission has been necessary for a number of reasons. In this sense, Gaudiya Vaishnavism in general -- and the Siksastakam in particular -- is comparable to the great Ganges River, which originates in the spiritual realm and flows wherever Krishna is worshiped. Its many tributaries and streams are home to varieties of flora and fauna, amongst whom Swami Tripurari is a particularly vibrant flower, one that knows this body of nectar well. Child that I am, I splash and play in that river’s shallows, aware that even the boldest and most experienced swimmers could not plumb its depths. And yet, in a sense, the Swami has done so in this work!

 

He brings us through the light and shadow of the material world, transports us to dimensions known only to Gaudiya Vaishnava acaryas, and gently places us on the shore of true knowledge. He accomplishes this with the help of glistening commentaries already shedding light on this subject, especially those of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and his Divine grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Although his work will be understood only according to the realizations of individual readers, he methodically helps us appreciate the nature of this river, and how to ply her waters gracefully. In the end, we feel cleansed, refreshed, and that much closer to the mysterious whirlpool known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism.I commend him on a masterpiece of Vaishnava mysticism."

 

--Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa),

founding editor, Journal of Vaishnava studies,

author, Essential Hinduism, Praeger Publishing

Babhru Das - April 20, 2006 7:07 pm

I like this review of Satyaraja's. It's appropriately poetic, I think. My only complaint is that a writer of his experience would choose to use enormity in relation to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. There's a big problem with using it instead of other words for enormousness, and this is one usage that stikes me just as fingernails on a blackboard do.

Swami - April 21, 2006 3:29 am

Sales are going well.

 

But one of the news portals refused to publish our announcement (Some-pradaya Sun), or something like that. I don't think the editors are Gaudiya Vaisnavas, although they are similar in some ways. They told us we have a different siddhanta from them. Indeed! :)

 

Satyaraj's words were encouraging. He also wrote, "Dearest Swami -- Obeisance. Jai Guru and Gauranga! I am proud to know you. I am amazed at what you have done with this book -- the way you have summarized Gaudiya Vaishnava siddhanta. It is a thing of wonder!"

 

The contrast is interesting.

Babhru Das - April 21, 2006 3:49 am

It's kind of hard to put a finger on just what the Sun folks are about. Rocan has long been a sort of ritvik proponent (his own sort, from what I sometimes gather), but he has some very ISKCON-friendly news items on the site.

 

Satyaraja's review and his note are encouraging indeed. Let's see where we can find cracks in the dike and exploit them!

Madangopal - April 21, 2006 2:46 pm

But one of the news portals refused to publish our announcement (Some-pradaya Sun), or something like that. I don't think the editors are Gaudiya Vaisnavas, although they are similar in some ways. They told us we have a different siddhanta from them. Indeed!


 

Don't expect much from Rocana. Having worked for him for a few months many years ago, I have a general idea of his philosophy on life and his refusal to publish an announcement is expected. Be glad that he didn't decide to review it. That would have been an exhausting endeavor to sort through his commentary. If anyone saw his remarks on Nrsimha Maharaj's song and their subsequent correspondence I'm sure you will understand what I mean. I find it funny that they have a banner across the top of the site: "Independent reporting, brahminical commentary." Very amusing.

Swami - April 21, 2006 3:01 pm

Don't expect much from Rocana. Having worked for him for a few months many years ago, I have a general idea of his philosophy on life and his refusal to publish an announcement is expected. Be glad that he didn't decide to review it. That would have been an exhausting endeavor to sort through his commentary. If anyone saw his remarks on Nrsimha Maharaj's song and their subsequent correspondence I'm sure you will understand what I mean. I find it funny that they have a banner across the top of the site: "Independent reporting, brahminical commentary." Very amusing.


 

 

We should start our own News and Editorial website. "The Harmonist." I can guide the editorial content such that the site would be a refreshing upgrade fropm waht VNN was and the Sun is, but we need some one to take up the publishing service.

Shyam Gopal Das - April 21, 2006 4:46 pm

Not sure if this is your intention, Guru Maharaj, but I'm sure disciples of Paramadvaiti Maharaj would be more than willing to help out with such a website too.

Babhru Das - April 21, 2006 8:30 pm

Oh--please count me in!

Nanda-tanuja Dasa - April 21, 2006 11:56 pm

Maybe we should revamp www.swami.org and Audarya Bookstore first? Both look quite outdated. News and Editorial website will require a lot of time and human resources to create and maintain. I know that impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary, but maybe it's better to fix what we already have before building something new.

Swami - April 22, 2006 1:58 am

Maybe we should revamp www.swami.org and Audarya Bookstore first? Both look quite outdated. News and Editorial website will require a lot of time and human resources to create and maintain. I know that impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary, but maybe it's better to fix what we already have before building something new.


 

good point. These updates are in progress, although we have recently been slowed down by the need to ready the gardens for the May 1st spring planting and the sawing and stacking of the temple lumber that is to start next week. Gauravani is also leaving from NC next week and will be gone for two weeks.

 

The idea for the Harmonist ivolves getting others involved that are not living here. Babhru has just volunteered to be the chief editor. When he volunteered to participate I wrote to him as follows:

 

This requires commitment. At this point we need someone to be our

"Rocana," an active editor, as opposed to the inactive editorial

policy of Chakra. Once we have this position filled, finding

technical help and editorial contributions will be easy. Again, now

we need a chief editor, whereas I will serve as the publisher. The

job requires discretion and interest in keeping the publication

alive. Once we have that person, we can easily set up the format,

etc. Then we can announce it and wait for the submission to roll in,

whcih would also involve RSS feeds on Hinduism, yoga, religion,

science,etc. It is a pretty easy job overall, but a very important

one."

 

Babhru responded thus:

 

"I want to make this commitment. This would bring about further development of bhajan by deep engagement in responsible service. This is something I can do, something I want to do. I'd approach is as if it were my job. Please consider this the cover letter for my application."

 

With this position filled we will still need a designer. Kamalaksa, Krsangi? Then technical support. Nandatanuja, Robert? Then others can participate as they like. The point here is that this venture involves providing the greater Gaudiya community with a news site that is guided by proper siddhanta and proper behavior without taxing Audarya's staff. In effect it gives us the microphone, although we will have to let others speak as well—but not just anyone.

 

Think about it.

Swami - May 15, 2006 10:07 pm

good point. These updates are in progress, although we have recently been slowed down by the need to ready the gardens for the May 1st spring planting and the sawing and stacking of the temple lumber that is to start next week. Gauravani is also leaving from NC next week and will be gone for two weeks.

 

The idea for the Harmonist ivolves getting others involved that are not living here. Babhru has just volunteered to be the chief editor. When he volunteered to participate I wrote to him as follows:

 

This requires commitment. At this point we need someone to be our

"Rocana," an active editor, as opposed to the inactive editorial

policy of Chakra. Once we have this position filled, finding

technical help and editorial contributions will be easy. Again, now

we need a chief editor, whereas I will serve as the publisher. The

job requires discretion and interest in keeping the publication

alive. Once we have that person, we can easily set up the format,

etc. Then we can announce it and wait for the submission to roll in,

whcih would also involve RSS feeds on Hinduism, yoga, religion,

science,etc. It is a pretty easy job overall, but a very important

one."

 

Babhru responded thus:

 

"I want to make this commitment. This would bring about further development of bhajan by deep engagement in responsible service. This is something I can do, something I want to do. I'd approach is as if it were my job. Please consider this the cover letter for my application."

 

With this position filled we will still need a designer. Kamalaksa, Krsangi? Then technical support. Nandatanuja, Robert? Then others can participate as they like. The point here is that this venture involves providing the greater Gaudiya community with a news site that is guided by proper siddhanta and proper behavior without taxing Audarya's staff. In effect it gives us the microphone, although we will have to let others speak as well—but not just anyone.

 

Think about it.


 

 

No one has said much about this project. However, I have been working on it in the background. Brahma suggested that we try to secure VNN, the original Vaisnava news site, for ourselves since it has name recognition and is now defunct. I pursued his suggestion and as of today VNN is ours (don't tell anyone). No one has come forward from our group to volunteer to redesign it or to render any technical (IT) seva that will be needed eventually. Although Robert Newman expressed willingness but lack of expertise in this particualr field of IT. So we plan to proceed intially by setting Babhru up as the editor of VNN. We will then send out a notice as to its re-opening. Then after some time we will announce that it will soon be givien a face lift, new name, and editorial policy update, as devotees come forward to render the service needed to take VNN into its next incarnation as The Harmonist--the voice of the Bhaktivinoda parivara.

Babhru Das - May 15, 2006 10:25 pm

This is exciting news! I guess one thing I could do would be to set up a gmail account to which submissions, etc. could be forwarded. Is it really a fact that we have no one in our group with the requisite expertise in Web design and other IT stuff? That seems unusual. In any event, I'm ready to roll.

Shyam Gopal Das - May 16, 2006 2:50 pm

I have set up quite a few websites... all I know I have learned by DIY. So I'm not really an all in all expert. I just know and learn by doing it the hardway.

 

Though I could easily set up a sort of blog site using wordpress.org It's free software, easy to backup but needs a mysql database. This would make updating the site fairly easy once the design is running. Since wordpress uses codes it is fairly easy to fit into any website, even the design vnn has right now...

Gauravani Dasa - May 16, 2006 4:24 pm

I was also thinking that it would be wise to use some kind of open-source CMS for the site--simply for the sake of maintainablity. The design aspect is probably the determining factor as to which package is used.

Shyam Gopal Das - May 17, 2006 4:07 pm

Wordpress is very flexible, just type in "wordpress templates" in google and you will find lots of predesigned templates. these are all very easy to modify or we can just create one from scratch.

I use wordpress myself and it is constantly being developed and very easy to maintain.

Nanda-tanuja Dasa - May 17, 2006 8:39 pm

Then technical support. Nandatanuja, Robert?


No one has come forward from our group to volunteer to redesign it or to render any technical (IT) seva that will be needed eventually. Although Robert Newman expressed willingness but lack of expertise in this particualr field of IT.


Well, I was trying to dodge the bullet, but that didn't work :D I'll try to help but my expertise, time and resources are very limited. I'll try to help to the best of my abilities.

Gauravani Dasa - May 17, 2006 10:12 pm

I've had good experience with http://doteasy.com as a web host. Their package offers PHP-Fusion http://www.php-fusion.co.uk/news.php, which seems like a flexible CMS.

Syamasundara - May 18, 2006 7:43 pm

So we plan to proceed intially by setting Babhru up as the editor of VNN. We will then send out a notice as to its re-opening. Then after some time we will announce that it will soon be givien a face lift, new name, and editorial policy update, as devotees come forward to render the service needed to take VNN into its next incarnation as The Harmonist--the voice of the Bhaktivinoda parivara.


 

 

This is just fantastic, I wish I could serve and help in some capacity, but I really can't think how.

Shyam Gopal Das - May 18, 2006 8:52 pm

I've had good experience with http://doteasy.com as a web host. Their package offers PHP-Fusion http://www.php-fusion.co.uk/news.php, which seems like a flexible CMS.


 

do we know how much traffic (in gb) vnn.org used to draw? this would be important information in choosing a webhost.

I personally prefer wordpress over php-fusion, but that may be a personal taste. Wordpress has a bigger following to my knowledge making updates and other plugins more easily available and being worked on. Php-fusion may be tech savvy though. But since I'm not a programmer, just a html syntax user, I don't have a lot of knowledge about that.

Wordpress is more a straightforward articles publisher with ability to comment. While php-fusion seems more like an allround community portal.

Gauravani Dasa - May 19, 2006 12:42 am

I agree with your comparison of Wordpress and PHP-Fusion. However, PHP-Fusion can be toned done to look and feel like Wordpress while still having all of the features available (if needed). I have a feeling that the end result will be a very active community of news and discussion, and a robust package is needed to support expansion. Personally I love the look of Wordpress but I don't think it is well suited for an active community.

 

I am not sure about the traffic of VNN. I will do some research...

Babhru Das - May 19, 2006 1:51 am

I agree with your comparison of Wordpress and PHP-Fusion. However, PHP-Fusion can be toned done to look and feel like Wordpress while still having all of the features available (if needed). I have a feeling that the end result will be a very active community of news and discussion, and a robust package is needed to support expansion. Personally I love the look of Wordpress but I don't think it is well suited for an active community.

 

Are we planning to open up a forum, too? That could be really messy. My experience with open forums is that they seem hard to control and are open to lots of gossip and apasiddhantic ideas. If we're just going to run a news-and-opinion site, as VNN was most of the time, and as VINA has been in both its incarnations, something like Worpress may suffice, although from what I've seen it may be best for blogging. Anyway, you're a lot close to this than I am right now, Gauravani, so you probably have a better idea what's in the hopper.

Krsangi Dasi - May 19, 2006 10:14 am
With this position filled we will still need a designer. Kamalaksa, Krsangi?

 

I'm so sorry we haven't answered this earlier, we've been so preoccupied with our work, studies and own projects these last weeks that we hadn't noticed this thread. We'd love to help with the design although we don't have so much experience with web design. Syama Gopala definitely knows more about the technical stuff than we do, but I'm sure we could cooperate with him on this and create something nice together. Especially since he's considering getting a Mac. :D

Gauravani Dasa - May 19, 2006 1:44 pm
Are we planning to open up a forum, too?

 

We are not ready to decide on all of the details of the new site. I guess I am just thinking big into the future. All of the details will be worked out with Guru Maharaja once we are sure that we are ready to move from the old-style VNN.

Jason - May 23, 2006 11:07 pm

I've been away for a while and only recently have found time to read over some of the threads I've missed. Thanks to Radhanama for getting me a copy of Swami's new book and his encouragement. Interestingly, I just finished the book as I was finishing reading the new issue of Parabola magazine.

 

Parabola's recent issue focused on the concept of "yearning" from different religious traditions and it made me think that much harder about some things in Maharaja's book.

 

Swami says in the purport to verse 6 that bhava brings about a change of heart recognizable by 9 characteristics; one of which was "eagerness". I'm assuming that eagerness and "yearning" are at least somewhat synonymous?

 

Here are some things that I was reading in Parabola:

 

An Islamic saying about God: "I was a hidden treasure, and I yearned to be intimately known, so I created humanity so that they may come to know me."

 

Rabbi Marc Gafni says, "To yearn for someone is to feel their lack: to yearn for another is not an expression of one's deficiency, but of glimmerings of realization...that tug at my heart indicates that I have incorporated this person's presence to such an extent that I am incomplete without them."

 

He also says, "In the valley of the shadow of death, I have not found the certainty of God: I am not bathed in the glorious light of certainty. It is in the longing, the pain of the lack of God, that He is to be found."

Patrick Laude writes in "A Blinding Proximity": "Some mystics have thought that the Divine veils itself, so as to intensify the human longing for it's Presence in a play of metaphysical hide and seek. Such play is akin to unsettling, but ultimately merciful, divine ruse."

 

All these quotes just reminded my of Swami's poetic approach and how much I missed that. I found it interesting to see the same things echoed by Swami as I was reading the commentary to the 6th and 8th verses of Sri Siksastakam. Swami quotes Bhaktivinode Thakur, "Pleasure felt in union can't be properly appreciated without the existence of suffering in separation." Maharaja stated that it [suffering in separation] is the function of vipralambha.

 

Swami's purport to verse 6 really hit home with me. He clearly points out that Mahaprabhu (vipralambha-murti) is the topmost example of the development of the characteristic of "yearning". He explains that the intense longing develops in bhava-bhakti. Where the other writers in Parabola may have left off, Maharaja provides a step-by-step account of how this develops. He [swami] says, "...Gaura spoke of the highest ideal in a way that the least qualified could take advantage of it." What is interesting to me is that Maharaja indicates that it is ALSO dependent on Krsna's mercy and not so easily granted.

 

Question:

 

Couldn't Krishna's mercy be the fact that He shows us His presence and then in His seeming absense, we develop that yearning/eagerness to search Him out again? Isn't the fact that we experience this, the "mercy" in a sense, since without that longing--God can't be fully found?

 

Thanks again for getting the book to me Radhanama....and Swami for writing it. It's nice to be back....the mundane world of academics has been dry and uninspiring.

 

--Jason