Finding a Good Raganuga Logo - Splitting hairs on semantics

Srivatsa Goswami of the Radha Raman Mandir and Sri Caitanya Prem Sansthan in Vrindavan once told me many years ago his opinion of the label 'Gaudiya Vaishnavism'. He felt it was a misnomer, on account of the contribution of South Indians (his family included) to the tradition. His preferred label is 'Caitanyaism'.

The problem with the word 'Vaishnava' is that it indicates Vishnu as the iSTa-devatA, whereas it is Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha that is the favored Deity of the Rupanuga practitioners. After all, how many Laksmi-Narayan temples do we see run by the various branches of the Gaudiya sampradaya? I propose a few alternative terms:

rUpAnugi
maJjaribhAvAnanandi
lIlAsmaranakari
mahAmantravadana
madhUryarasavAdi
madhUryarasika

Feel free to vote on your favorite from the above list or propose one or more of your own.

It is true that the term Gaudiya Vaishnava is somewhat limiting. I have not spoken much of it with people in India (outside the tradition, that is), but I suspect that the word "Gaudiya" may well be somewhat counterproductive, given the incredible degree of racial distinctions people in India maintain. In this regard the West is admittedly more advanced. Just recently I heard from Mahanidhi Swami that in ISKCON India, Gaudiya brahmacaris live in one room, Punjabi brahmacaris in another, and Hindustanis in the third, without mixing much with each other. So, "Gaudiya Sampradaya" (as one hears it often said) may not be the best alternative.

The "Visva Vaishnava Raja Sabha" proposed by Jiva in his Sandarbhas is a far more inclusive term, though not very specific and distinguishing. After all, we do not desire to merge all Vaishnavas into a single sampradaya; variety is the spice of life they say.

The biggest problem as I see it is the breaking of the existing status quo, to change a rather well-established concept.

Myself, if I had to choose an alternative, I would perhaps be in favor of the simple "Caitanya Vaishnavism" proposed by Habermann and others. I do not know whether the term is in use among any of the branches of the devotional community.

Though the terms proposed by Ramdas are fascinating and juicy from an insider's perspective, I feel that terms such as "maJjaribhAvAnanandi" and "mahAmantravadana" may be a bit hard to access for the laymen. Simple is beautiful, and tends to work better too.

"tat-tad-bhAvecchAtmika-saMpradAya"

I believe theological terms which require a lengthy explanation (such as in "maJjaribhAvAnanandi") would prove to be troublesome; explaining the meaning of "Gaudiya Vaishnava" is already a show enough.

As for the term "Vaishnava", the Madhvites (Brahma-sampradaya) have Krishna as their iSTa-devatA, the Ramanujaites (Sri-sampradaya) worship Laksmi-Narayana with the exception of the Ramanandis who are bhaktas of Sita-Rama, the Vallabhis (Rudra-Visnusvami-sampradaya) worship Bala-Krishna, and the Nimbarkis (Kumara-sampradaya) worship Radha-Krishna. Intriquingly a minority of Vaishnavas actually worship Vishnu. However, they are commonly known as Vaishnava-sampradayas nevertheless, at least as far as my limited knowledge goes; I may be wrong here. Do the Krishna-upasakas have an alternative term for themselves besides "Vaishnava"?

Woe and behold, I just discovered a new term, presented by the followers of Swami Gaurangapada.

"Gaurangaism"

http://www.mahadiksha.blogspot.com/

They boast:

"His Holiness Swami Gaurangapada The Founder-World-Preceptor of Gaurangaism!"

On it goes:

"Gauranga-Kriya-Ashraya-Bhaktiyoga-Mahadiksha is the most effective process in this world of instantly and permanently connecting with the Supreme Cosmic Power Lord Gauranga-Krishna and thus achieving supreme peace, power, strength, happiness, prosperity, harmony, satisfaction, love, compassion, fulfilment, efficiency and confidence in our lives, though the process of directly receiving the two King of all Mantras (the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantra Rajas) from the World Preceptor of Gauranga-Bhaktiyoga Shri Gurudeva Swami Gaurangapada and chanting Them through the toprmost process of Gauranga-Kriya, atleast 1080 times a day."

I wonder if Swami agrees.

Leaves me speechless. "Geez?"

He himself has created that webpage.


Watch this space. B)

Nitai Das and I have arrived at a name for our new non-profit organization:

Temple of the Sacred Bower.

It is an authorized branch in the Nityananda Poribar of the Chaitanya tree, dedicated to our guru, 108 Tin Kudi Goswami (Sri Kishorikishorananda Das Babaji, AKA Mauni Baba).

Projects planned include the purchase of land for a temple and ashram, book publication and meditation retreats. Donations are tax deductible in the United States. I still have to look into getting international not for profit status. If anyone has any info. on that, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds mystical. I love it.


Sorry for not being able to supply you with contact addresses for your gurubhais for now. Many of the things I left for the latter half of my journey were left undone thanks to the prolonged book publication show. I will try to work it out anyhow, I'll contact some friends there and have them send us some information.


If you need a website, drop me an e-mail.