Who am I
Success in life begins with knowing, "Who am I? What is the purpose of my life?" Knowledge of the self exists; but sincere seekers are rare. More rare are the great teachers of such wisdom. Since time immemorial, wise men have described our wonderful nature: spiritual, primeval, ever-existing, undying, unchangeable, imperishable. This selection of the writings of Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa (Chris Butler) shares that timeless wisdom — inspiring, challenging , practical.
Selected articles from the magazine
SREE SAJJANA-TOSHANI or THE HARMONIST
Edited by Paramahamsa Paribrajakacharyya
Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj
Published between 1927 - 1936
Srestharyya Sripad Jagabandhu Das Adhikari, Bhaktiranjan (J. B. D.)
The day before the close of the spiritual Exhibition that had been organised in the spacious compound of the Gaudiya-Math, which function formed the concluding activity of the long series of the festivities of the auspicious Inauguration of the New Buildings of the Math., Srestharyya Sripad Jagabandhu Das Adhikari Bhaktiranjan, the donor and architect of those superb Buildings, took his departure from the scene of his unique devotional labours with the supreme satisfaction that his soul had at last found and successfully performed his duty to Godhead and humanity. Bhaktiranjan prabhu’s disappearance took place on the 19th of November.
Sharagrahi Vaishnava
- ALAS, for those that spend their days
In festive mirth and joy!
The dazzling deadly liquid forms
Their heart for e’er employ!! - The shining bottles charm their eyes
And draw their heart’s embrace!
The slaves of wine can never rise
From what we call disgrace!
In Memorium
J. B. D. has built the Temple of God,
Right in the heart of Calcutta.
He has built with care the holier abode
Of His servants, the Gaudiya Math.
J. B. D. is gone from among the people
Whom he had loved with all his heart.
May he be praised with right good will;
For so we may understand th’ devotee’s part.
Brahmanya-Deva and Brahmanas
The word ‘Brahmanya’ means a friend or benefactor to Brahman or Brahmana. It also means the object of worship to a Brahmana. And both these senses in fact point to one and the same thing, for the real Friend and the best Benefactor is certainly the truest and highest Object of worship or love. Who is then this Brahmanya-deva?
He is no other than Vishnu Himself, the all-pervading Supreme soul. So we find in the Santi Parvan of the Mahabharata ‘Brahmanya’ and ‘dear to Brahmana’ as two of a thousand epithets of Vishnu, the Supreme Lord.
Anhika-Chandrika also points to the same fact.
The Mahaprasad or ‘the Great Favour’ II
The awakened soul says in effect to the mind and body, ‘I am not identical with you. I do not want what you require. I have so long believed that I was identical with yourselves and that our interests were the same. But I now find that I am really and categorically different from you. I am made wholly of the principle of self-consciousness while both of you are made of dead matter. Being matter you can act and be acted upon by matter under the laws of Nature.
Nature makes and unmakes you but she has no power over me. I am not benefited by your growth or harmed by your decay. You grow and decay by the laws that govern your relationships with this physical universe. Falsely identifying myself with you I find myself compelled to suffer pain and pleasure due to physical vicissitudes that overtake you. I find myself unnaturally yoked to your functions such as eating, drinking, producing thought etc. etc and am forced to believe them to be my own functions by which I am benefited. I shall have of course to stay with you as long as it is intended by providence that I should and suffer the consequences of this unnatural alliance with you. But I shall from this time do nothing to please you. I shall permit you to do only what I consider to be necessary for my well being viz. getting back into my natural position of free conscious existence unhampered by the unnatural domination by longing for material enjoyment. I refuse to be any more a slave of the sensuous inclinations of the mind and body.’
The Mahaprasad or ‘the Great Favour’ I
Eating is supposed to be a physical or mundane affair and to have no connection with the soul. I set forth below certain considerations that underlie this ordinary view regarding eating.
We eat to live. It is necessary to take the proper quality and quantity of food in order to remain in sound health and have strength of body and mind. A sound mind in a sound body enables us to perform our duties in the proper manner in this world. It is of course not possible to be strong and healthy by mere regulation of the diet. Other factors e.g. temperate and regular habits, cheerfulness of mind etc. etc. are also involved. The whole matter belongs to the jurisdiction of the medical science. We expect to be healthy and strong by obeying the principles of that science. The medical science itself is a codification of the experience of the race confirmed and elaborated by experiments. But its theories are constantly changing and much more rapidly than probably those of any other science. It may, therefore, be described as at once the most progressive and the least satisfactory of the sciences.
The Erotic Principle and Un-alloyed Devotion Part II
In the realm of the Absolute the little soul functions free from all limitations under the guidance of Krishna Himself. His function is to serve Krishna. Service implies a knowledge of the wishes of the Master. It also implies a difference or possibility of difference between the wishes of the servant and those of the master. The wishes of the master have, therefore, to be communicated to the servant who cannot otherwise know it. In this world such wishes are conveyed imperfectly through the medium of some material substance. The command is clearly distinguishable from its source. In the spiritual world there can be no such difference. The servant knows the whole of the command that is Krishna Himself. Therefore it must be Krishna Himself Who always makes Himself known to His servants in the realm of the Absolute by means of His commands. But Krishna as Master cannot be known to the servant. That would eliminate the difference between the Master and servant. If He wants to be known to the servant He must make Himself known to the latter in the Form which the latter can also recognize his Master. For this purpose Sri Krishna becomes His own servant in whose heart He appears as Master. This concept, to use a worldly word, is communicated to us by Krishna as servant. This serving counter-part of Sri Krishna is called by our Shastras Sri Radhika. She is the female or serving principle and the inseparable and eternal Counter-whole of Sri Krishna Himself. She is the premier milk-maid of Braja. For serving Krishna She expands herself into the other milk-maids of Braja. She is the Power of Krishna and every power is of Her essence, even the principle of limitation itself.
The Erotic Principle and Un-alloyed Devotion. Part I
The transcendental amorous pastimes of Sri Krishna with the spiritual milk-maids of Braja constitute the highest platform of service of the Divinity. This is the sum and substance of the teachings of Sri Chaitanya. This teaching is set forth in the Srimad Bhagabata Purana which offers the concrete and unambiguous exposition of this religion of love.