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<\/center><\/p>\nBy Sivarama Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n From Srila Prabhupada\u2019s teachings and Gaudiya history, it seems that there has always been a tension between two kinds of followers of Lord Caitanya\u2019s mission\u2014the preachers and the reclusive practitioners. These are known as the gosthy-anandi (GA) and bhajan-anandi (BA), respectively. The debate between the two centres around how they realise the confidential essence of Lord Caitanya\u2019s teachings, Vraja-bhakti, and the failings that each sees in the other\u2019s practice. GA see that BA neglect Lord Caitanya\u2019s order to preach and that they take an exoteric approach to spontaneous devotion in practice, for which the vast majority of aspirants are ineligible.(1) Therefore such BA are rightly labelled sahajiyas. BA, on the other hand, argue that GA preaching of varnasrama and refuting evolution are material activities, and the GA practice of regulative devotional service leads them to Vaikuntha and not Vraja. Both these charges show a lack of understanding of how to preach and how to elevate neophyte devotees to the realm of spontaneity.<\/p>\n My purpose in writing the Krishna in Vrindavan series was to highlight to members of ISKCON that while preaching and regulated practice are the guidelines given us by our acaryas, they\u2014our acaryas\u2014also taught an esoteric approach to spontaneous service, which did not, as did the BA exoteric practice, conflict with the preaching mission and its resultant influx of neophyte devotees.(2) In this regard Srila Prabhupada emphasised that as devotees\u2019 hearts become purified by service and practice\u2014mainly nama-sankirtana\u2014they will naturally remember Krishna, and by remembering Krishna devotees will awaken their desire to serve Him in the same mood as the Vraja-vasis. That is vraja-bhakti. But if devotees do not read Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books, or books of other Vaisnavas, what will we remember? If devotees do not hear of Krishna\u2019s pastimes, His sweetness, His devotees\u2019 services, then how will we awaken a desire to serve Krishna in Vrndavan?<\/p>\n Following Srila Prabhupada\u2019s order, I am trying to provide more reading material for devotees\u2019 remembrance, and also trying to give the truths of siddhanta and rasa that substantiate the understanding of the transcendental nature of Krishna\u2019s pastimes, associates, and their mutual shared love. However, if devotees do not take seriously the study of transcendental literature, if we only emphasize preaching as a means to perfection, then such devotees may well be confirming the BA false assessment of the path of the GA. Therefore I request devotees not to neglect reading Srila Prabhupda\u2019s books and if they have spare time, read the books like those made available by Lal Publications. Books are not meant to sit on shelves, but are meant to be read and thus awaken our desire to serve Krishna in the way that the Vraja-vasis do. <\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n Yours in Krishna’s service, From Srila Prabhupada\u2019s teachings and Gaudiya history, it seems that there has always been a tension between two kinds of followers of Lord Caitanya\u2019s mission\u2014the preachers and the reclusive practitioners. These are known as the gosthy-anandi (GA) and bhajan-anandi (BA), respectively. The debate between the two centres around how they realise the confidential essence of Lord Caitanya\u2019s teachings, Vraja-bhakti, and the failings that each sees in the other\u2019s practice. GA see that BA neglect Lord Caitanya\u2019s order to preach and that they take an exoteric approach to spontaneous devotion in practice, for which the vast majority of aspirants are ineligible.(1) Therefore such BA are rightly labelled sahajiyas. BA, on the other hand, argue that GA preaching of varnasrama and refuting evolution are material activities, and the GA practice of regulative devotional service leads them to Vaikuntha and not Vraja. Both these charges show a lack of understanding of how to preach and how to elevate neophyte devotees to the realm of spontaneity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63074,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63072\/revisions\/63074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSivarama Swami
\nFootnotes:
\n1. Exoteric means external.
\n2. Esoteric means internal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Hare](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-CeMJEsZXQpM\/Wxo6v1SoQCI\/AAAAAAAAkzo\/UilPkVnxMVwtHNCYB8ahBpUK-3cNXZLbgCHMYCw\/s0\/2018-06-08_10-13-05.jpg\")
By Sivarama Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n