Shastra
Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Shastra

Are Women Duplicitous and Selfish According to Bhāgavatam? (Part 1)

According to Jīva Gosvāmī (in Tattva Sandarbha, Anuccheda 26.2), there are three ways to instruct: like a king, like a friend, or like a beloved. The Vedas instruct like a king, giving direct instructions. The Purāṇas teach like a friend by giving stories which have a moral. And books of Sāhitya (Indian literature) teach indirectly.

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Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Bhakti Shastra

The Two Divisions of Pure Bhakti – 2

Vaidhī, Rāgānugā and Svābhāvika Bhakti: The natural function (svābhāvika vṛtti) of the senses in relationship to bhakti is of two types. The first occurs, when a person follows the injunctions of scriptures to approach a spiritual teacher, takes instructions from that teacher, and thereby practices pure devotion. By regularly practicing devotion he or she moves

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Events Shastra

New Book Release: Śrī Bhagavat Sandarbha

With this new English edition of the six Sandarbhas, beginning with the publication of the Bhāgavat Sandarbha that has just been published, Satyanarayana Dasa and the Jiva Institute of Vaishnava Studies will have produced an outstanding scholarly work that can take a distinguished place alongside other treatises of philosophy and theology, not just for practitioners

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Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Gaudiya Vaishnavas Shastra

Beyond Matter and a Place of No Falldown (Bhagavat Sandarbha, 52)

In the following verse, Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī simultaneously describes both qualities of Vaikuṇṭha [discussed in the two previous sections]: It is beyond the visible or manifest world and is a place from which no one falls down:

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Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Gaudiya Vaishnavas Philosophy Shastra

No One Falls From Vaikuṇṭha – Part 11 (Bhagavat Sandarbha, 51)

Teaching is an art. An expert teacher is one who educates in such a way that the students embrace the teaching as their own, without confusion or degradation. The conditioned souls, being unaware of any other reality, do not aspire to become free of the material world, but would rather be happy in this life,

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Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Gaudiya Vaishnavas Shastra

No One Falls From Vaikuṇṭha – Part 10 (Bhagavat Sandarbha, 51)

So the conclusion is that nobody, whether nitya-siddha or sādhana-siddha, ever falls from Vaikuṇṭha. The question that naturally follows is, “So then, where do we come from?” or, “How did we come to be in this bound condition?” The simple answer is that we are nitya-baddha (perpetually bound), which is to say that till now,

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Articles by Satyanarayana Dasa Gaudiya Vaishnavas Shastra

No One Falls From Vaikuṇṭha – Part 9 (Bhagavat Sandarbha, 51)

Our disputant may set forth yet another objection: If this section is properly analyzed, we can conclude that it refers only to those devotees who reach Vaikuṇṭha from the material world. This can be ascertained by studying the six items that determine the import of a text, such as its opening and closing statements. These

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