Bhakti Collective

Bhakti Collective

  • Five Lessons from a Pencil

    When I was walking today, on the Island Mali Losinj, I felt my mind reach out over the blue sea to an island shimmering in the distance. When my mind returned, it brought a story with it, a story of spiritual instruction. Strange are the ways of inspiration. Here is the story: When Mohan returned…

  • New Book on Kirtan

    Author Steven Rosen and FOLK Books have just released a new book on kirtan. From the press release: “The Yoga of Kirtan explores the history, musical dimensions, and emotional content of sacred chant. Through a series of intimate conversations, this volume brings it’s readers into the company of present-day kirtan masters, such as Krishna Das,…

  • Kirtan and Humility or: Scrambled Thoughts on Grass

    “One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant constantly.” (Shri Shikshastakam…

  • The Lila of the Bewilderment of Brahma

    Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are sung by you personally and by your pure devotees, certainly conquer your…

  • Episcopal Christians Apologize

    Episcopal Christians apologize to Hindus for discrimination and proselytization: from Rediff India Abroad. [Kd]

  • Hari Sankirtan

    From A Portrait of the Hindus: Balthazar Solvyns & the European Image of India 1760-1824 More from Robert Hardgrave’s A Portrait of the Hindus: here is Balthazar Solvyns’s etching of a kirtan gathering in 18th century Calcutta. The term sankirtan – a compound of the Sanskrit words san (together), and kirtana (glorification) – refers to…

  • Windows to the Material World

    I just finished assembling my journals into book form for a final edit. Fortunately, I finished the work before my computer crashed. I knew it was on the blink, but I dreaded the day when it need to be sent for repair. Leaving the shop on my way home, however, I felt a surprising relief,…

  • Indirect Perception Of Brahman in the Bhagavad-gita

    ESSAY: Matthew Dasti’s paper Indirect Perception of Brahman in the Bhagavad-gita uses a contemporary account of indirect seeing to examine religious experience within the Bhagavad-gita.

  • Sri Krsna-Lila-Stava

    The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has recently published Sanantana Goswami’s Sri Krishna-Lila-Stava: Adoration of Krishna’s Pastimes . Sanantana Goswami (1488-1558) was the senior most of Vrindavan’s “Six Goswamis”, all influential teachers of the bhakti path. The description below is adapted from the book’s dust jacket.

  • An Etching of the Khol

    From A Portrait of the Hindus: Balthazar Solvyns & the European Image of India 1760-1824 As promised, from Robert L. Hardgrave’s A Portrait of the Hindus, Balthazar Solvyns’s etching of the khol or mridanga drum. Here, I’ve provided a detail of the etching. The entire image can be found below. I’ve included an excerpt from…

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