Refutation of the Bhagavata or the Pancharatra school
Utpattyasambhavat II.2.42 (213)
On account of the impossibility of the origination (of the individual soul from the Highest Lord), (the doctrine of the Bhagavatas or the Pancharatra doctrine cannot be accepted). Utpatti: causation, origination, creation; Asambhavat: on account of the impossibility.
The Pancharatra doctrine or the doctrine of the Bhagavatas is now refuted.
No it's not. The Sutra is saying that there is no cause for everything in existence. It is a misunderstanding of the sutra to think that it is saying that the jiva does not originate from the Lord, there is a big difference. The Lord does not create the jiva and nowhere in the Pancharatra or Bhagavata doctrine do we find different. But the Lord is the origin of the jiva because the Lord is the origin of everything. Swami Sivananda gives us three translations of Utpatti: causation, origination, creation. These 3 are not the same. If a drop of water in the ocean finds it's origin in the ocean that is different then saying the drop of water in the ocean was created or caused by the ocean. All jivas and everything in existence finds their origin in the Lord but their essence is not created by the Lord because that essence is without beginning. Just like if I take a few gallons of water out of the ocean in order to create an aquarium in my house. It would be wrong to say that I actually created a mini ocean in my glass container. But it would be correct to say that I manipulated the ocean water to create a unique situation where the ocean water in my aquarium is functioning separately from the ocean as a mini ocean. All existence is like that. Everything is essentially comprised of the same eternal beginningless substance, but the Lord manipulates that self same substance and by doing so the varieties of existence comes into being. The whole point of this criticism of the Bhagavata and Pancaratras by the Advaitins is because they believe that the goal of life is to go back to the essential undifferentiated state of existence, to turn back into Brahman without a personal existence to live life with. They believe that losing their personality and differentiatedness from Brahman is the goal of life. Which is fairly foolish if you think about it. I mean why would Brahman become us if the goal of life for us is lose our individuality only to become Brahman again? That philosophy is based on a simplistic and errant understanding of the Upanishads.
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cont from Swami Sivanada
According to this school, the Lord is the efficient cause as well as the material cause of the universe. This is in quite agreement with the scripture or the Sruti and so it is authoritative. A part of their system agrees with the Vedanta system. We accept this. Another part of the system, however, is open to objection. The Bhagavatas say that Vaasudeva whose nature is pure knowledge is what really exists. He divides Himself fourfold and appears in four forms (Vyuhas) as Vaasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Vaasudeva denotes the Supreme Self, Sankarshana the individual soul, Pradyumna the mind, and Aniruddha the principle of egoism, or Ahamkara. Of these four Vaasudeva constitutes the Ultimate Cause, of which the three others are the effects. They say that by devotion for a long period to Vaasudeva through Abhigamana (going to the temple with devotion), Upadana (securing the accessories of worship). Ijya (oblation, worship), Svadhyaya (study of holy scripture and recitation of Mantras) and Yoga (devout meditation) we can pass beyond all afflictions, pains and sorrows, attain Liberation and reach the Supreme Being. We accept this doctrine.
But we controvert the doctrine that Sankarshana (the Jiva) is born from Vaasudeva and so on. Such creation is not possible. If there is such birth, if the soul be created it would be subject to destruction and hence there could be no Liberation. That the soul is not created will be shown in Sutra II.3. 17. For this reason the Pancharatra doctrine is not acceptable.
Here we see misrepresentations. "Vaasudeva constitutes the Ultimate Cause, of which the three others are the effects." The three others are not effects nor are they different from Vasudeva. They are all Vasudeva engaged in different activities therefore they are given different nomenclatures in order to teach us the variety of activities of the Lord. Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are all one and the same Lord. If I wear one type of clothes for when I work in the garden and then a different type of clothes for when I attend a marriage ceremony and then a different type of clothes when I fight in a battle we would not say that there is a cause and effect relationship between the clothes I wear in relation to each other. Secondarily Sankarsana does not refer to the jiva. Sankarsana is the Lord of the Jiva, the origin of the jiva (in the sense of the drop of water in the ocean having it's origin in the ocean)
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cont from Swami Sivananda
Na cha kartuh karanam II.2.43 (214)
And (it is) not (observed that) the instrument (is produced) from the agent. Na: not; Cha: and; Kartuh: from the agent; Karanam: the instrument.
The argument against the Pancharatra doctrine is continued.
An instrument such as a hatchet and the like is not seen to be produced from the agent, the woodcutter. But the Bhagavatas teach that from an agent, viz., the individual soul termed Sankarshana, there springs its internal instrument or mind (Pradyumna) and from the mind, the ego or Ahamkara (Aniruddha). The mind is the instrument of the soul. Nowhere do we see the instrument being born from the doer. Nor can we accept that Ahamkara issues from the mind. This doctrine cannot be accepted. Such doctrine cannot be settled without observed instances. We do not meet with any scriptural passage in its favour. The scripture declares that everything takes its origin from Brahman.
More misrepresentation. The Sutra is refering to the oneness of everything within Brahman. Since everything has it's origin in Brahman therefore although there is the appearance of one thing being created by another thing in reality everything already exists in some form or another. For example if we take gold and make bangles it may appear that the bangle was created by an artisan, and in one sense it was. But in the absolute sense the gold already existed and the person who built the bangle simply manipulated that which already existed. So the sutra is telling us that everything in existence was never created because in the absolute sense everything is a manifestation of a manipulation of the eternal substance of Brahman, which is without creation. Therefore the sutra tells us that the substance of reality was not created. Swami Sivananda wrote:
"But the Bhagavatas teach that from an agent, viz., the individual soul termed Sankarshana, there springs its internal instrument or mind (Pradyumna) and from the mind, the ego or Ahamkara (Aniruddha)."
The Bhagavata does not teach that. Sankarsana is the origin of jiva, the abode of the jiva, one and different from the jiva. Aniruddha and Pradyumna as ego and mind are not the product of the jiva and nowhere in the Bhagavata do we find such teachings.
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From Bhagavat Purana
3.26.23-24: The material ego springs up from the mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lord's own energy. The material ego is endowed predominantly with active power of three kinds -- good, passionate and ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the senses of perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.
3.26.25: The threefold ahankara, the source of the gross elements, the senses and the mind, is identical with them because it is their cause. It is known by the name of Sankarshana, who is directly Lord Ananta with a thousand heads.
What is the material ego (ahankara)? It is the illusioned vision of the jiva. The ahankara springs up from the mahat-tattva (material world) in the sense that this world we see around us fools us into accepting that which is not real as real. We see so much variety and so much apparent cause and effect that we take everything in the world as being independently occuring free from an overarching transcendant control. We see people places and things as being the causes of all effects. In truth everything ...read more
I had a mixed reaction to your article. Many of your points were nicely put, but I also had a few points I had some problems with. One thing you seem to want or at the least seem content with is the role of new people who join Iskcon as money “collectors”. You also noted that people usually only stay unmarried and “fully surrendered” for 2-3 years. Maybe there is a correlation between using new people as money collectors and their almost inevitable loss of the surrendered enthusiastic mentality. You also seem to expect that unmarried people are the lifeblood and economic backbone of most Iskcon temples. Maybe there is truth to that. But in my estimation if that is indeed true then there is something very wrong in those temples. We should see that the longer people are engaged in Krishna’s service the more blissful and surrendered they should be. So we have to wonder why is the opposite phenomena occuring in Iskcon temples that you have associated with?
This is a complicated problem with only 2 solutions as far as I can see. I don’t think stressing brahmacari life as a higher road to take for unmarried people as a solution for Iskcon’s economic and manpower woes is the best route to take. Not only does it send a bad message to new people that they are being used as beasts of burden for the non surrendered enjoyers, but it also is not what new people expect when they join a yoga ashrama. I know for myself I was quickly disillusioned when I joined Iskcon. I was thinking it was a bhakti yoga ashrama where I would be engaged in spiritual pursuits, I found myself in parking lots 8-10 hours a day asking for money. As new devotees we were preached to daily in class and in general by temple leaders that surrendering to Guru and Krishna was necessary in order to advance to be able to go back to godhead in the next life. Those who went out and collected money were considered and talked about as the most surrendered, you were made to feel unsurrendered and insincere if you did not “get with the program”. This was a common experience for most devotees in America, I don’t know if it was the same everywhere. This of course can only lead to an inevitable result. People become cynical and “fried” with working long hard hours of boring work for nothing in Iskcon. The collectors see themselves as people who wanted to join a spiritual family who spend their time in blissful joyous spiritual activity, they then find themselves pressured into spending most of their time doing menial boring labor in very unspiritual surroundings. They end up feeling used by those who run the temples spending the money on houses, apartments, cars, world travel, etc. They become cynical and disgusted and either quit Iskcon altogether or as you point out they begin a less surrendered lifestyle of one sort or another. You don’t seem to be disturbed by this vicious cycle, and in fact you seem to want to make it work in a more productive manner. A better more financially secure dysfunctionality is not a long term solution to Iskcon’s economic and manpower problems.
Those problems can be solved, but it will take some effort by Iskcon members to organize and be dedicated. What is needed is a source of income for the temples which does not require new people to spend their time as laborers for the economic stability of a temple. Then the new people will not become so quick to leave Iskcon or curtail service in Iskcon. This can be accomplished in 2 ways: donations and business investment. Donations have never been enough to cover temple expenses for most temples. That may change in the future. For now Iskcon needs to look at ways to get involved in business. This will not only give Iskcon financial indepedence so that new people do not have to be beast’s of burden, it will also give married people a place to make a living within the temple community. Iskcon as a whole or a individual temples or groups of temples could establish a fund which would be manned by business experts who would manage the giving out money and advice on how to start businesses. Then the temple itself would be a part owner of those businesses and could then have a sustainable fund for expansion for more businesses. If businesses flourish then that would attract more people into wanting to be a part of the community. Iskcon should facilitate business directly. Not be involved in the running of those businesses necessarily, but in the funding, expert advice, and profits. More people would want to be involved in an Iskcon community if they can make a living working with vaisnavas and not have to work for miniscule amounts of money. People don’t need to be coerced into remaining unmarried pack horses so that temple leaders can make enough money to do what they want to do. New people may be new to Krishna consciousness, but they are not new to feeling used and exploited. End that and the problem of people losing enthusiasm and leaving will be solved. Otherwise until Iskcon develops a large enough donation base the problems will not simply go away by doing what has not worked in the past. I am sure there are many successful devotees and especially Indian devotees who are expert businessmen and would love to help. That community is a very wealthy and expert community of devotees who are are very good at what they do. Iskcon should reach out to them. I am confident that there are many business experienced vaisnavas who could make this idea work.
The biggest rock bands in the U.K. in the 1990's were Oasis and Kula Shaker. Kula Shaker was an all vaisnava rock band led by singer guitarist Crispian Mills who is the son of vaisnavi movie, television and stage star Hayley Mills. Kula Shaker shot to stardom in the U.K. on the release of the first album "K" in 1996 which spawned 4 hit singles and made them the hottest band in Britain. They were also quite popular in europe and hugely popular in Japan. They had some success in America but nowhere near the popularity they enjoyed in the U.K, Europe and Japan.
They split in 1999. They each worked on various projects with Crispian forming The Jeevas. The Jeevas were well received but did not enjoy the great popularity of Kula Shaker.
Earlier this year minus the keyboardist Jay who is touring with Oasis, Kula Shaker has reformed and has been touring the U.K. at sold out shows to critical acclaim. They have released an EP entitled "Revenge of the King" with 4 new songs available only on itunes. They will be releasing an album later this year and will be playing the summer festivals in the U.K, Japan and more dates to be announced.
This is an article I came across by the religious historian Bhakti Ananda Goswami. I think he makes some very interesting observations.
Some Thoughts on Oppressive Preaching and Abusive Guru-Disciple Relationships
by Bhakti Ananda Goswami
HARE KRISHNA ! SRI SRI GURU and GAURANGA Ki Jaya!
Dear Friends,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
Anyone who has been around the Movement for the last 10, 20, or 30 + years probably has heard cynical and bitter diatribes about the falsity of love and friendship among selfish materialists in this world. All relationships have been routinely condemned as mere material attachment, and this has led to a profound impersonalism in the Movement masquerading as spiritual detachment, or 'transcendence'.
However if we actually THINK ABOUT the exemplary relationships of the Lord, great devotees and spiritually advanced souls, we can see that They are NEVER IMPERSONAL and express GREAT ATTACHMENT. Their family, friendly and conjugal relationships are passionate, deep, rich and full of transcendental OTHER-CENTERED (NEVER SELF-CENTERED) flavor. Our Tradition is BHAKTI YOGA. But, instead of focusing on seeing KRISHNA and His beloved and loving devotees everywhere, some persons have developed the Mayavadi inclination to see only MAYA everywhere, and NOT YOGA MAYA EITHER.
Gurus who specialize in this aversion-therapy kind of preaching designed to disgust people with the mundane world may be necessary for some of the people some of the time. However, aversion therapy or purging the heart and mind of evil contents is not the same as filling them up with the love, beauty and Godness of Godhead !
Eloquent but bitter-sounding posts on LOVE and FRIENDSHIP which assert that THERE IS NO LOVE IN THIS WORLD are rather typical of this kind of seeing and preaching. I don't know that this has ever made one person a better lover of GOD or of anyone. One result of this approach is to disgust and detach people from the falsities / illusions of selfish 'love', so that they can experience REAL LOVE. However, if people never move on from the vision of hell, they cannot experience the Beatific Vision of Godhead. It is not spiritually healthy to have 'maya consciousness' instead of Krishna Consciousness. In The Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna how TO SEE HIM EVERYWHERE. So here we have a little opportunity to share our glimpses of Him everywhere. Anti-maya consciousness is still maya consciousness. We must MOVE ON from the 'maya consciousness' anti-incarnational and impersonal negativity of our past, into a body-positive HEALTHY INCARNATIONAL REALIZATION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE KRISHNA CONSCIOUS. But to do this, we need to learn some things about what has gone wrong in our lives and in the Hare Krishna Movement.
It is not enough to read and repeat the standard matter-is-evil neo-gnosticism of the past. There are numerous sites where one can do it, and it is expected and welcome. There are also many sites where specific complaints against specific 'gurus' are being aired. Here I don't want to do more of that. I don't want to foster personal attacks or vendettas (justified or not) on this thread. That is not the mood that I want to foster here. Instead I would like us to analyze what is good and what is dangerous about guru-disciple relationships, how to recognize problems and how to remedy them. Abusive gurus are not just an ISKCON or Hare Krishna Movement problem ! Deceptive and dangerous mentors can be found in all areas of life. How can we find a legitimately qualified guru / mentor or intercessor-savior and inter into a proper relationship with them ? How can we avoid duplicitous control-freaks and spiritual charlatans ? What are the symptoms of a saint ?
Can one legitimately use their own brain after 'surrendering' ??? How can we be obedient and avoid being abused at the same time ? Let us discuss these things for the benefit of all.
A Few More Thoughts on Purgative or Negative Preaching
Please allow me to clarify a little what I mean about negative aversion-therapy preaching. People should consume what is healthy for them. Generally that means sattvic nourishing food. Sometimes, however, if someone has consumed something poisonous, in the emergency room they will be given a drug called Ipecac, which makes them vomit to get rid of the poison. The parallel to this is the heavy preaching against selfish materialistic life that is commonly found in ascetic religious or 'spiritual' disciplines. A detailed analysis of what is wrong everywhere, is presented to create AVERSION to 'worldliness' in the spiritual aspirant. This is like administering Ipecac to get the body to reject what it has consumed. It may be an aid to health by expelling the poison, but there is no nourishment in Ipecac, and one cannot live on a diet of it.
It is dwelling on SRI KRISHNA the TRUE, the GOOD, the BEAUTIFUL, the SWEET, the COMPASSIONATE, the FORGIVING, the PLAYFUL...and on His activities with His associates, and even with His adversaries, that is the nourishment we need for the revival of our souls.
I have been on the Internet almost a year now, and have read scores of devotee sites, and have seen that forums are often dominated by those whose heavy preaching is aggressively 'maya conscious', in the sense that they dwell on what is wrong, and see maya and evil everywhere and never seem to recognize where KRISHNA IS. They have relegated Him to some remote place in time, or the far-off Spiritual Sky, and cannot seem to experience His Presence in the incarnate here and now. This emphasis has not come from Srila Prabhupada or our Sampradaya which has traditionally focused on nectar distribution. However, there has been a need to confront the evils of modern Godless society, so our acharyas have strongly done this. However they remained first and foremost founts of the nectar of Divine Love. They ‘practiced the Presence of God,’ and thus did actually experience Him everywhere ! Sri Krishna is present here and now, and His presence is what CAN make us more true, good, sweet, benevolent, compassionate etc. but we must EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE TO BENEFIT FROM IT. WE CANNOT BE NOURISHED BY FOOD IF WE ONLY LOOK AT IT. We must 'take' it in and make it part of our being, for it to have its life-giving effect.
In the Hare Krishna Movement, some people have been reading Srila Prabhupada's books and performing sadhana for years, and have remained bitter, cold, and even cruel people. This means that they have not replaced the poison that was in them with the sweetness of real Krishna Consciousness.
The constant bitter 'maya consciousness' preaching and attacking mood on so many devotee forums shows that this being stuck in aversion-mode is a wide-spread problem. Devotees have also fanatically defended their abusive 'gurus' and have lived in continual denial while aiding and abetting the crimes of these self-deluded and deluding men. The result of all this dishonesty, pride and religious posturing has been devastating. Although I mainly like to focus on presenting my historical and theological research information, sometimes it is necessary to deal with the problems in our Movement. While we should definitely be trying to move beyond the anti-materialism aversion-therapy phase of spiritual development / preaching, to a focus on WHERE KRISHNA IS, INSTEAD OF WHERE HE IS NOT, sometimes it is really necessary to confront a serious problem. So below I would like to share some thoughts on this subject of gurus, their abuse of authority, and what authorities and non-authorities can do to stop abuse.
More Thoughts on Abusive Hell-Fire-and-Damnation Preaching
There is anti-materialism and there is positive personalism. These are not the same thing. The kind of anti-materialism preaching which focuses on sinfulness and what is wrong, without moving on to a focus on GRACE, is like the hell-fire-and-damnation preaching of certain Protestant Fundamentalists. It may be effective to empty people of materialistic desires, but it does not feed their souls in a positive, personally healing way. Such Protestant preaching typically focuses on human guilt instead of divine grace. Many persons brow-beaten and overcome with guilt and self-loathing never get past it to the message of salvation in Godhead's Grace. Many souls just go away in despair as a result of such preaching. They may even decide that God, if He does exist is not a nice person and is certainly not worthy of being loved or worshiped ! Thus a preaching focus on hell-fire and damnation actually creates an AVERSION TO GOD AS A COMPASSIONLESS LOVELESS DESPOT IN MANY PEOPLE.
What does attract and revitalize souls is the gospel of GOD'S GRACE and CHARISMA (COGNATE WITH KRISHNA !). Srila Prabhupada certainly warned us about all the falsities of the material world, but he went way beyond anti-materialism, all the way to Goloka Vrindavana, to introduce us to Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, The Loving and Grace-Filled Source of All Being, The Beautiful, The Sweet, The Eternally and Infinitely Playful, etc.
If we cultivate KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS we can learn to recognize Krishna's Presence in the way that He instructed His confidential Friend Arjuna to understand His Presence everywhere. Krishna's lesson for Arjuna in the Great I Am verses of the Bhagavad-Gita was a form of positive personalism. Krishna emphasized over and over how to see where HE IS. He did not emphasize the neti neti or via negativa path, which is not Bhakti Yoga. The negative path is one of aversion, not attraction. Sri Krishna is the ALL ATTRACTIVE ONE, and His path of Bhakti ...read more
Someone asked about how an Uttama vaisnava sees Krishna. Does he see God everywhere, and can this be faked by people who are not on that level ?
This is my reply.
An Uttama level soul is described in sastra as someone who sees God all the time, everywhere, within and without.
Imagine yourself in a computer generated virtual reality. If you have the equipment you can enter into a virtual reality world using your computer at home. The result is that you appear to take part in a real world of some type. Although in reality the whole thing is a computer generated digital illusion. Lets say you are taking part in a virtual reality program. The "world" you choose is some kind of sci-fi program and you choose an avatar for yourself as some kind of alien. While you have your goggles on and are in the virtual reality, another person is controlling the virtual reality from his computer. That person has total control over everything in the virtual world you are in. He can do anything. He can be the god of the virtual world that you are playing in. If there are a bunch of people playing at the same time, then the controller of the game can control what each individual sees and hears, the players are inside the game, the person outside the game is controlling what everyone experiences. Knowing this, the players know that whatever happens in the virtual world, is happening because the person who is controlling the game, is making it happen. Nothing happens in the virtual world that is not meant to happen. The whole thing is completely controlled and designed.
Now apply that vision to this world.
We actually live in a virtual world. Instead of a digital based 3d illusion on a screen, this virtual world is made of conscious energy. Instead of bytes creating an illusory digital image, conscious energy is creating illusory images made of itself.
When you can see this world that way, then the controller of this virtual world we live in, can use that control to reveal that control, in a variety of ways.
It is all about knowledge. When you understand that everything:
"Within this world, whatever is perceived by the mind, speech, eyes or other senses is Me alone and nothing besides Me. All of you please understand this by a straightforward analysis of the facts.
According to My instructions, one should fix the mind on Me alone. If, however, one continues to see many different values and goals in life rather than seeing everything within Me, then although apparently awake, one is actually dreaming due to incomplete knowledge, just as one may dream that one has wakened from a dream."
[Krishna speaking in the 11th canto of the Bhagavatam]
Not only is everything you see or hear a virtual reality under total control, but also your mind is not under your control. When you can observe your mind, detached from being under the impression that you are actually controlling it, then your mind will reveal what is really controlling it.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, the Supreme Lord gives life to every living being and is situated within the heart along with the life air and primal sound vibration. The Lord can be perceived in His subtle form within the heart by one's mind, since the Lord controls the minds of everyone, even great demigods like Lord Shiva. The Supreme Lord also assumes a gross form as the various sounds of the Vedas, composed of short and long vowels and consonants of different intonations."
[Krishna speaking in the 11th canto of the Bhagavatam]
By heart is meant within the core of one's being.
Can this be faked ?
Of course not. You either have this knowledge and understand it, and try to apply it, or you don't and can't. If you do, then the controller can reveal that control to you at any time, any place, in any way.
Krsna has unlimited potencies, which can be divided into three main parts. These are the spiritual energy, the material energy and the marginal energy, which is known as the living entities. In other words, these are all potencies of God - internal, external, and marginal. However, the internal energy is the Lord's personal energy and stands over the other two.
"Krsna is self-effulgent, like a blazing fire or the sun. Krsna is like a blazing fire. In the centre of the fire is the cit-sakti (svarupa sakti), it is present in fullness. In addition to the centre there is also a great expanse illuminated by the fire. The same way the Krsna-sun illumines a great area with sunlight. The rays of sunlight are particles of His internal potency (svarupa sakti). Those atomic particles that constitute those rays of sunlight are the individual spirit souls. The internal potency (svarupa sakti) manifests the Krsna-sun planet itself. The sunlight emanating from that planet is manifested by the cit-sakti (svarupa sakti) and the individual particles of light are manifested by the jiva-sakti. Therefore the individual spirit souls are manifested by the jiva-sakti."
The Internal energy is Krishna proper.
If we take into account the totality of reality, the totality of God, we have the Internal energy, External energy, and Jiva. The Internal energy is God without any material designations (external energy) and without Jiva, it is God alone, therefore it is called Internal energy. Just like you and your body. Your muscles and nervous system are your external energy, your soul and mind is your internal energy. It is all you, but the part that is purely you, is your soul and mind or Internal energy. ( God's soul and mind are the same.)
From Bhaktivinoda's The Bhagavat:
(Antaranga=Internal or Cit or Swarupa)
"Antaranga-shakti
Antaranga is that which pertains to the proper Entity of the Absolute Person. It is also called Swarupa-shakti for this reason. The literal meaning of the word antaranga is "that which belongs to the inner body." Shakti is rendered as "power."
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Caitanya-Caritamrta Madhya lila 8.154-155
sac-citanandamaya krsnera svarupa ata eva svarupa-sakti haya tina-rupa anandamse hladini sadamse sandhini cid-amse samvit ya're jnana kari' mani
Lord Krsna is sac-cidnananda-vigraha the transcendental form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. Therefore His personal energy (svarupa-sakti, the internal energy of the Lord) has three different forms. Hladini is His energy of ecstasy, beauty, sweetness, charm, harmony; sandhini, His energy of eternal existence, or reality; and samvit, of cognizance, knowledge, awareness."
From Srila Prabhupada purport in Adi lila Cc
"Radha and Sri Krsna are identical. The sandhini portion of Sri Krsna's internal potency has manifested the all-attractive form of Sri Krsna, and the same internal potency, in the hladini feature, has presented Srimati Radharani, who is the attraction for the all-attractive. No one can match Srimati Radharani in the transcendental pastimes of Sri Krsna."
From Jaiva Dharma:
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"The chit-potency is Krishna's plenary potency; Whatever she produces is eternally accomplished; the jiva is not so eternally accomplished; when he becomes accomplished by practices (sadhana-siddha), he enjoys bliss like those eternally accomplished entities. The four kinds of confidantes of Sri Radha (to be described hereafter) are eternally accomplished; their bodies are about the same, with slight variations, with that of Sri Radhika who is essentially the chit-shakti. The jivas have grown out of the jiva-shakti of Sri Krishna. Chit-shakti is Sri Krishna's full (plenary) shakti, whereas the jiva-shakti is the incomplete shakti. From the plenary potency are produced complete entities, but from the incomplete potency have grown the jivas as atomic chit. Krishna manifests entities of different types in accordance with the kind of the shakti He applies.
When established in His essential chit-shakti He reveals His essential Nature as Sri Krishna Himself on the one hand and on the other as Sri Narayana, the Lord of Vaikuntha."
So we have Radha and Krsna, Both are manifested from the Internal Potency, and are identical to it.
As Jiva Goswami has said in his Krsna Sandarbha:
"The two kinds of expansions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead are : 1. svamsa (personal expansions) and 2. vibhinnamsa (separate persons). The svamsa expansions are unlimitedly powerful. Their form and personality are the same as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.
There is not the slightest difference between the svamsa expansions and the Original Personality of Godhead. The vibhinnamsa expansions are very weak in comparison to Them."
There are two kinds of living beings, two kinds of expansions from God. One type is called Svamsa. They are all God in various forms and personas. The other type is the Jiva or vibbhinamsa.
The Svamsa are all personifications of the Internal energy or Cit Sakti, they are all the same person. The vibbhinamsa are all manifest from the Tatastha or Jiva Sakti, they are us, countless individual tiny souls.
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From Prabhupada's Cc purport
"As already explained, Krsna and Radha are one in two. They are identical. Krsna expands Himself in multi-incarnations and plenary portions like the purusas. Similarly, Srimati Radharani expands Herself in multi-forms as the goddesses of fortune, the queens and the damsels of Vraja. Such expansions from Srimati Radharani are all Her plenary portions. All these womanly forms of Krsna are expansions corresponding to His plenary expansions of Visnu forms. These expansions have been compared to reflected forms of the original form. There is no difference between the original and reflected forms. The female reflections of Krsna's pleasure potency are as good as Krsna Himself."
Radha and Her expansions are all God, all are Krishna, in womanly forms. There is no difference between Krishna and Radha and their expansions. They are all God, in various forms and personas.
Who or what is Radha ?
This is an allegorical description of Radha's position from a great acarya in our line.
This is from Raghava Goswami's Sri Krsna-bhakti-ratna-prakasa:
QUOTE
"Sri Radha is manifested from half of Lord Krsna’s body. This is described in the following verse of Padma Purana:
"Sri Radha is the original potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She is beautiful, graceful, saintly and full of all transcendental qualities. She enjoys pastimes in the forest of Vrndavana. She is manifested from half of Lord Mukunda’s transcendental body."
This is also confirmed in the Sammohana-tantra, Patala 1:
"His form is eternally full of bliss. It is never any other way. Radha is full of bliss. Lord Hari is full of bliss."
Their forms are not composed of material elements. Their forms are full of bliss. They are the single Supreme Spirit, manifested as two for the knowledge of the devotees.
The wise know that as a spark is one with the fire, so the potency and the master of potencies are one.
That Sri Radha is manifested from half of Lord Krsna’s body is also described in the Govinda-Vrndavana-sastra, where Sri Krsna says to Balarama:
"O Balarama, please listen and I will tell You something. One day, taking My flute, My heart full of bliss and My form bending in three places, I went under a kadamba tree and, s ...read more
All by Krsna's causeless mercy of course that a jiva soul receive's the matchless gift of the bhakti-lata bija from Sri Guru: this implantation must be carefully nurtured by the aspiring sadhaka by hearing and chanting of Krsna-katha.
When does this seed of bhakti actually take root in the heart and citta of the sadhaka?
How is it said that there can be a karma-bija or jnana-bija cultivated in the heart of the sadhaka just as weeds instead of the bhakti-bija plant?
How can the offensive chanting be feeding karma and jnana instead of bhakti in the citta of the sadhaka?
Madhurya rasa is the topmost rasa, so how can rasa be considered in the beginning stages of bhakti-yoga especially for neophytes who are still in the bodily or mental concept of life?
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