Meditations on Transcendence

  Hosa Varsha Eve. New Year Eve. Enu hosaadu? The clock changes its hat. The calendar flips its moustache. But the stage remains the same. Ade pañca-bhūta . Ade kāla . Earth does not update its software. Fire does not download a new patch. Water flows with the same old confidence it had yesterday. So haagadare… enu hosaadu? Not the universe. Not time. Not even our problems, which are loyal enough to RSVP every year. What becomes new is something subtler. Bhāva. Dr̥ṣṭikoṇa. Vision. A year becomes hosa only when the lens through which we look becomes nava-naveena . Otherwise it is just the same old wheel doing polite rotations, like a bored bull at a village oil press. The Gītā whispers this politely in Chapter 15. The universe exists in layers , like a cosmic mille-feuille. What we see is not all that is. “tataḥ padam parimārga-tavyam” — seek that further step, the higher footing. New Year, then, is not about fireworks. It is about climbing vision , one rung higher. From surface s...

  Purport to Saint Vādirāja’s Hitōpadēśa (Ṣaṭślōkī) The opening command is uncompromising: “Smara Kṛṣṇaṁ, bhaja Hariṁ, nama Viṣṇuṁ, śrayācyutam.” Once one has entered Bhāvālaya , the inner abode of devotion, there remains only one duty: tyaja kāma, jahi krodha, jahi moha. Nothing more, nothing less. Why is this necessary? Because we quietly trade our svadharma for money, position, and imagined security. This trade happens due to moha , mistaken identity. Planning the future on the false notion of “I am this body and its ambitions” is moha. Future expectations born from this false self create further bondage. Real intelligence asks a different question: How will this enable my service to Vāsudeva? Thus the instruction turns inward. Increase japa , deepen kathā , and see the world not as bhogya but as havis . The body itself is yajña-huta , meant for offering. The primary havis we handle daily is sound, ideas, and thoughts . Even rasa, like cooking, becomes sacred when offered to ...

 https://madhwafestivals.com/2016/11/04/venunada-priya-gopalakrushna/ Purport to “Venunāda Priya Gopāla Kṛṣṇa” The song begins with Venunāda-priya , establishing the primary quality of the Lord. Sound comes first. In the order of perception, śabda (sound) precedes sparśa (touch), rūpa (form), rasa (taste), and gandha (smell) . Therefore nāda is the doorway to devotion. Before one can appreciate the Lord’s feet, one must hear. The flute sound awakens faith, and that faith carries the consciousness toward the lotus feet. Pastimes follow later; first comes attraction through transcendental vibration. Pallavi – Nāda The pallavi rests on nāda. Kṛṣṇa is not merely a form-holder; He is sound itself. The venunāda is non-different from Oṁkāra. By hearing, the conditioned soul begins its return journey. First Para – Pada and Kara The song then moves to the feet : caraṇa-vandita-caraṇa . Feet signify shelter. After sound awakens faith, the devotee bows. Next comes the hand , therefore Mandar...

  Venunāda Vinōda, Gāna Vinōda, Mukunda There are two kinds of vinōda in Śrī Kṛṣṇa. One is Venunāda Vinōda . The Lord delights in His own flute sound. The other is Gāna Vinōda . He delights not only in rāga, but in bhāva-filled lyrics , sung with devotion. The flute of Gopāla Kṛṣṇa is not ordinary sound. Venu-nāda eva Omkāra-svarūpaḥ . From that transcendental vibration arises remembrance of the soul’s forgotten relationship with Mukunda. Therefore He is called Mukunda , the giver of mukti . Liberation does not descend by dry renunciation; it flows through sound saturated with devotion. The Bhāgavata declares: “Venuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam…” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.21.5) When Kṛṣṇa plays the flute, even trees, rivers, birds and cows become motionless, absorbed in transcendental ecstasy. This is not sentiment. This is the scientific process of liberation through śabda-brahma . If someone asks, “Vinōda-dalli mukti sādhya-vē?” How can liberation arise from delight? The answer...

 At the lowest rung of vision, the universe looks crowded. Many doers. Many drives. Many hungers pulling in opposite directions. Life feels like a marketplace of forces colliding. Yet this plurality is only a surface ripple. When perception turns ūrdhva , upward, the noise thins. The Gītā whispers this reversal in Chapter 15. ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham . The tree’s root is above. What appears many below is held by one above. What seems driven is already being driven. As consciousness ascends, agency begins to converge. Individual will softens. The sense of “I act” gives way to “I am moved.” Tataḥ pada-parimārgatayām , the search for the supreme station, is not spatial. It is a refinement of seeing. At the summit, multiplicity collapses into presence. Sri Hari is not added as a conclusion. He is discovered as the silent driver who was always driving. The many were never independent engines. They were spokes. The axis was always one. Urdhva-mūlam is not philosophy. It is a correct...

  Dharma Kṣetre, Kuru Kṣetre Dharma kṣetre is first the body. All discovery begins there. Within this inner field lie tendencies, gifts, and obligations, not created by choice but revealed by attention. A person who does not study this field lives by imitation, not by truth. Kuru kṣetre is the world. Kuru means to do. The world is not a place for contemplation alone, but for execution. Dharma, once seen inwardly, demands outward expression. Knowledge that does not enter action remains untested and therefore incomplete. Yet action alone is not sufficient. The spirit of action decides its fruit. When one acts in Pāṇḍu bhāva , free from possessiveness and claim, action becomes yajña. When one acts in māmakaḥ , even right action decays into bondage. Siddhi is not escape from the world, but mastery within it. Sañjaya is victory of clear sight, where inner dharma and outer action stand aligned. Only then is the field fulfilled.

  We Are Reborn Till the Time Pāṇḍu Mindset Completely Wins Over Māmakaḥ Inside the Heart Rebirth is not punishment. It is unfinished work. As long as māmakaḥ lives in the heart, the sense of “mine,” of clutching, defending, possessing, life keeps looping. The soul returns to complete what it could not release. The Pāṇḍu mindset is different. It is pale of ego, clarified of claim. It acts, but does not grip. It serves, but does not own. When action becomes idam na mama , karma loosens its knot. We are reborn until holding turns into offering, until possession yields to yajña. When Pāṇḍu fully replaces māmakaḥ within, rebirth has no work left. — मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव (ಭಗವದ್ಗೀತೆ 1.1)