Question: I have heard the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa is one of the worst interpolated Purāṇas and I find it important to know which parts are interpolated exactly. The Kṛṣṇa Janma Khaṇḍa contains some shocking vulgar eroticism and even meat hangs out to dry in Nandagrām when Uddhava enters the village. Then there is the following
Adjustments according to Time and Society Question: On Gosvami’s literature, you have recently said: ‘These books were written from a cultural, social and political background which is different from today. Even though their philosophical conclusions are eternal, they need to be studied and applied in the modern context.’ I have not any idea what it
Question: In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, part one, chapter five, text 16-17, Sanatana Gosvami writes in his Digdarsini commentary that “uttamaa visuddhaa vaa prema-laksanaa vaa param kevalam dattaa bhaktih saa ca jnana-mishreti boddhavyam uttaratra shuddham ityukteh. Praak prahlaadena svayameva tathoktatvaac ca saptamyaantas.” Here Prahlada’s devotion is said to be pure and characterized by love but is
Question: I was reading the Tattva Sandarbha edition that was translated by you. In anuccheda 31 you have commented that: “In the Bhagavad-gita (7.5) Lord Krsna tells Arjuna that His marginal energy, the jiva, is superior to His separated, material energy, maya. One may then ask, how does the superior jiva come under the control of the inferior
Question: What exactly is the ksetrajna in terms of the Samkhya tattva categories? Answer: Ksetrajna and atma are synonyms. The conditioned atma is called jiva. The purusa of Sankhya is the same as ksetrajna or atma. However, sometimes the word ksetrajna is also used for jiva or the conditioned atma. Question: In SB II.2.16, the
Question: May I kindly ask for a few minutes of your time to clarify the topic which I’ve come across recently while reading a book by Swami Ramsukhdas “Is Salvation Possible without a Guru?” Following the analysis on the necessity of having a Guru, Swami emphatically concludes that salvation is actually possible without a Guru.
Question: In Western theology there’s a prominent concept that God is almighty and can do anything. I think that’s not exactly wrong, but a mis-focus, or mis-stress, or out of context statement. I think there are certain things that even God can’t do. Not because there is some authority outside or above him, but because
