Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2013 21:02:05 GMT -5
Several years back after my conversation with Aindra, when I began to delve into the Raganuga literature I became frustrated with the complexity of it all. It seemed that so much of the literature was about the culture rather than the pastimes themselves. And there is a lot of it! There was so much to wade through, and while trying to do so I found myself wondering: "how do I know which of the nitya-siddhas inspires me most until I actually have the opportunity to read about their pastimes?"
It seemed to me that the logical place to start would be to read the pastimes of the Lord and His associates and devotees, and once beginning to feel some attraction for one of them (in whatever rasa) and the way they serve Krishna, then that would be the time to learn about the culture surrounding them. That, opposed to reading about all of the details of the sakhis, etc. when my attraction to serve Krishna may be in the manner of Subala or Yasoda.
So I went back to reading the pastimes in the Bhagavatam and Krishna Book.
Since you seem to be thoroughly with all of this I am curious to know what you (or the acharyas, or any other experienced members of this forum) think about this approach? Does it make sense, or are we encouraged to read all about the gopi culture, etc. nonetheless?
Also, what books of the raganuga literature focus more on the pastimes of the Lord? Or do we read asta-kaliya-lila daily and see what develops? Aindra gave me all of the literature but I never was able to learn from him how to approach it.
I guess my question is simply: how do we proceed down this path of raganuga?
Thank you.
Dhanesvara Das
It seemed to me that the logical place to start would be to read the pastimes of the Lord and His associates and devotees, and once beginning to feel some attraction for one of them (in whatever rasa) and the way they serve Krishna, then that would be the time to learn about the culture surrounding them. That, opposed to reading about all of the details of the sakhis, etc. when my attraction to serve Krishna may be in the manner of Subala or Yasoda.
So I went back to reading the pastimes in the Bhagavatam and Krishna Book.
Since you seem to be thoroughly with all of this I am curious to know what you (or the acharyas, or any other experienced members of this forum) think about this approach? Does it make sense, or are we encouraged to read all about the gopi culture, etc. nonetheless?
Also, what books of the raganuga literature focus more on the pastimes of the Lord? Or do we read asta-kaliya-lila daily and see what develops? Aindra gave me all of the literature but I never was able to learn from him how to approach it.
I guess my question is simply: how do we proceed down this path of raganuga?
Thank you.
Dhanesvara Das
