Society Consciousness is at the Forefront (07/24/04)I Appreciate Your Kind Invitation (12/29/04)Students Who are Proud of Their Small Knowledge (11/17/04)
Dear Śrīpāda B_____ Mahārāja,
Daṇḍavat praṇāms. All glories to Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga.
My comments are as follows.
First, I would like to say that the statement you sent to me sounds like a statement by X____Mahārāja.
Whether or not Swami Mahārāja is in mādhurya-rasa or sakhya-rasa is debated to some extent. X___ Mahārāja, of course, only speaks of Swami Mahārāja in mādhurya-rasa, but Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja found that Swami Mahārāja may have been in sakhya-rasa or that he couched his mādhurya sentiments in favor of his being empowered by Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. In any case, no one has ascertained beyond a doubt what rasa Swami Mahārāja is situated in eternity.
As for the meaning of the word ‘samādhi’ technically or grammatically, what has been said is not altogether wrong, but for the sake of splitting hairs (fine detail) we find the following: ‘Samādhi’ means to fix one’s mind on an object, to unite with a particular object. ‘Samā’ means to join, combine, unite, harmonize and to be equipoised. ‘Dhi’ means consciousness and comes from the root ‘dhīṣana’.
As for entering the “same level, same position and same mood as the personal associates of his worshipful Deity” this is only true in a general sense. Subordination is always a quality and the liberated jīvas are always subordinate to the pārṣada devotees, nor are they fully equal to the pārṣada devotees such as Lalitā, Viśākha, Rūpa Mañjarī, etc. All living entities have their particular serving mood and although these can certainly be grouped together, nonetheless the individual serving mood of a devotee is distinct. Even Lalitā, who is an expansion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, has her own particular mood, intelligence, qualities, etc.
That everything in the spiritual world is perfectly equal is not completely palatable in my opinion.
As for the mañjarī section, I have not seen that X____ Mahārāja has such a deep understanding as some people would like to think. Compared to the depth of what we have heard from Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja and Śrīla Purī Mahārāja, I would have to say that X____ Mahārāja and his group are “Gate Crashers” or at best they are students who are proud of their small knowledge.
I hope this meets you well.
Śrī Hari-jana-kiṅkara,
Swami B.G. Narasiṅgha
