Meditations on Transcendence

The Golden Honmoon & the Song of the Golden Lord It is said that in the shadowed age, when demons crept unseen among humans, a ruler named Gwi-Ma feasted not on flesh, but on the shimmer of souls. His minions roamed freely, whispering fears, sowing quarrels, turning love to ash. Three women rose from the quiet corners of the world — unremarkable to the unseeing eye — but carrying voices woven with a power older than moonlight. With song, they cast the Honmoon, a shimmering barrier stitched from sound, keeping the darkness at bay. Far from that realm, yet closer than breath, the Golden Lord Śrī Chaitanya walked the dusty lanes of Navadvīpa. His song was not of charms or incantations, but of the Holy Names — Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare — a chant that wrapped the earth in a second, brighter Honmoon. Like the trios of guardians, each new devotee became another singer in the great work, holding the barrier against kali-pu...

 Prema, or divine love, holds a central place in the Vaishnava tradition. The Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, a revered text, delves deeply into this concept. In the Adi-lila, a verse encapsulates the essence of prema: "hladinira sara ‘prema’, prema-sara ‘bhava’ bhavera parama-kastha, nama—‘maha-bhava’ mahabhava-svarupa sri-radha-thakurani sarva-guna-khani krsna-kanta-siromani" At the core of prema lies hladini, the divine pleasure potency of Krishna. Prema, the essence of hladini, is a spiritual love that transcends the material realm. This love manifests in various emotions, known as bhava, with maha-bhava being the highest expression of ecstatic love. Sri Radha Thakurani embodies this maha-bhava, representing the pinnacle of divine love—selfless, pure, and eternal. She is the sarva-guna-khani , the mine of all good qualities, and the krsna-kanta-siromani , the crest jewel of all Krishna's lovers. The phrase "vidya vadhu jivanam" from the first verse of the Shiksha...