Question: Could you specify the difference between āropa-siddhā-bhakti and karma-miśrā-bhakti as defined by Srīla Jīva Gosvami in Bhakti Sandarbha? Answer: Āropa-siddhā-bhakti consists of activities that are not devotional in themselves but become part of devotion because of their contact with bhakti. Primarily it includes offering your actions to Kṛṣṇa, karmārpaṇam. These actions themselves are not
Question: You wrote that if one’s guru falls down, then one should accept another guru. However, some disciples of such a controversial guru argue that it is wrong to give up one’s guru because the guru should never be given up. They also cite the famous Gītā verse, api cet su-durācāro, which says that even
The Nature of Jīvas Question: One thing you could confirm is the definition of adrṣtā within Gaudīya Vedānta. I’m looking at Govinda Bhāṣya 2.3.49 onward. The discussion is regarding the difference between jīvas. They are not similar on account of their adrṣtā and karma. However, their essential nature is the same. I have checked that
Question: In Paramātma Sandarbha, Annucheda 93, it is said, “Bhagavān did not rescue Gajendra out of empathy for his pain, but rather because of his surrender in the form, ‘You are my only shelter.’” But He resides within the heart of every jīva as Paramātmā. How does He remain neutral to the threefold miseries of
Question: I would like to discuss an apparent contradiction concerning the impassibility of God (the theological concept that God does not experience pain or pleasure in relation to material happiness or suffering of the living entities). As you know, Jīva Gosvāmi is firm on this point. God’s emotional life plays out under the influence of
Question: In his Hari Nāmamṛta Vyākaraṇa, in one of his vṛtti commentaries, Jīva Gosvāmī analyzes the declension of words “vaikuṇṭha-dhvas” and “vaikuṇṭha-sras”, which both mean “one who falls down from Vaikuṇṭha”. One may, of course, argue that the words refer to Jaya and Vijaya. But if they were indeed the only souls who fell down from
Question: In SB 3.33.6, it is stated: tyan-nāmadheya-śravaṇānukīrtanād, yat-prahvaṇād yat-smaraṇād api kvacit śvādo ‘pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate, kutaḥ punas te bhagavan nu darśanāt “To say nothing of the spiritual advancement some who see the Him face to face, even a person born in a family of dog-eaters immediately becomes eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices if
