Topic: Siddhanta

Recently, we came across a discussion on the internet regarding sraddha - the importance of faith. Is it essential or only a necessity for the beginner? It is an area of siddhanta that is little understood by a vast majority of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas residing in western countries.

The contents of this webpage are in response to a group of young men claiming to be the followers of Sri Madhvacarya who recently challenged the siddhanta of the Gaudiya sampradaya. Many of their points simply stem from lack of knowledge of the Gaudiya siddhanta, whilst other arguments appear to stem more from the fundamental defects of conditioned souls, such as malice and envy.

One evening as we sat at Srila Puri Maharaja's lotus feet hearing about what it means to be a genuine Vaisnava, we were astounded when suddenly Srila Puri Maharaja said, "There is a wave of sahajiyaism coming to the Western world and you must preach against this misconception."

The letter 'A' denotes Balaram , the son of Rohini, who is the substratum of the entire universe, who is the supersoul of the universe. The letter 'M' denotes Anirudha, who is the supersoul of each individual being in the universe. And the 'dot' above the 'M' denotes Sri Krishna, the fountain head of all Vishnu incarnations.

I stand before you as a teller. I am going to tell you now a few words more on the Vedanta and especially its ontological aspect, morphology being a former changeable part of the same. My telling craves a reciprocity of your listening to my sound through your aural reception. Sound is the main substratum of the Vedanta which deals with a subject unapproachable by our present crippled imperfect senses.

If immortality means 'no influence of mortality' what, then, is its positive conception? What will be the nature, movement, and progress of that which is immortal?

We are very far from the Infinite, yet the simple process of chanting His Holy Name, which is non-different from the Lord Himself, allows us to touch His essence, to experience a closeness with Him and His wonderful pastimes.

Devotional life or Bhakti-yoga is a science which follows very exact guidelines — which are both very easy to follow and at the same time difficult for many, because their feet may be firmly rooted in material desires and sinful activities. Yet the Holy Name chanted purely will pull them out of the muck and propel them into an eternal life of sat, cit and ananda — an eternal life full of knowledge and great pleasure.

In the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, the gayatri which the guru (bona fide spiritual master) gives to the sadhaka (devotee) at the time of diksa (initiation) is that of the Vedic diksa (upanayana) and also that of the Vaisnava pancaratrika-diksa.

The name must be of finite characteristic that can take away all that is undesirable in us. The name must have a spiritual conception not mere physical imitation, that can be produced only by the help of the lip and tongue. Krsna-nama, Hari-nama, Visnu, Narayana, all these are Vaikuntha-nama, it is necessary that They have spiritual existence, that is all in all. They must have spiritual depth, not imitation. Physical imitation is not the name proper.

The transcendental wisdom of the ten maxim is being enumerated in ten verses - svatah siddho vedah haridayita-vedyhah prabhrtitah (the Vedic scriptures are the only source of all authoritative wisdom according to words mentioned therein, viz., 'asya maha to bhutasya nisvasitametat'[Rk Veda] etc.

Verses 8 - 11 are the four principal verses of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita. The ontological substance of the book is contained within these four essential verses, beginning aham sarvasya prabhavo - "Everything emanates from Me."