Why we should or should not study the Rasa-lila, The Monk’s Podcast 129 with Garuda Prabhu

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, the topic we discussed was, should, when should we, should we not study the Rasleela? And broadly discussed, say, three things.
One is the, why is the Rasleela, why is there apprehension in studying the Rasleela? Why is it important? And how can we access it? So, the apprehension is because at one level, at the time of Prabhupada and the Acharyas before him, Tantra and Sahajiya aspects of the Rasleela, those aspects had contaminated the understanding of the Rasleela and it was seen as immoral even in India, where it was not, before that it was not seen like that. It was seen as transcendental and it didn’t make people imitate. And when Prabhupada went to the West, there was the whole free sex culture.
So, Prabhupada was extremely cautious in not letting devotees or new people find some spiritual rationalization for continuing the previous ways of living. At the same time, while Prabhupada was cautious, he didn’t succumb to excessive caution, as you put it, that he gave the Rasleela in the Ras Panchadhyayana Krishna book itself and which were meant to be widely distributed. So, and that beautifully you translated that Ras Panchadhyayana concluding verse, that itself says that while it, actually hearing it can free us from lust.
So, there is a context where it can be misunderstood. That’s why we need to be, we could say, we need to be ready to hear it. It doesn’t mean that we should never hear it.
So, then why hear it? Why is it important? Because, I like that very striking metaphor that this is as central to our tradition as Jesus on the crucifix is to the Christian tradition. And it may not be immediately, there the violence may be off-putting and here the sensual, seeming sensuality may be off-putting. But we need to be able to say that the insider perspective and the outsider perspective.
So, we need to be aware of how it is perceived in the outside and we need to be expert to explain in a way that those misconceptions are avoided. And we ourselves need to also develop the insider perspective so that we can relish it. And ultimately the Rastila is the expression of the purest form of love between the Lord and His masculine and feminine manifestations.
So, and then we talked about how all love is a progression. So, love in this world in Sattva Guna, that is like a drop of the love that is there in the spiritual world between the divine couple. And then there is, there are more Tamasic forms of love in Prabhupada talks about certain things, Prabhupada statements about rape.
So, they are like a very, very distorted expression of poisonous, poisonous, poisonous or poisoned expression of some kind of affection, remote distortion of affection. So, then we discussed that it is because it is the purest, the highest form of love. So, it is important for us to appreciate it and relish it.
So, in that connection, earlier you started out how Rasa and Rasa, they are two different things. Everybody has some Rasa with someone. There is Rasa even among animals and humans and animals of different species.
And we talk about Prabhupada also appreciated love between animals. So, the Rasa is actually the Rasa Mandal, the circular formation, which the formation where the Leela is performed. And then discussed how do we enter into that.
So, because it is the highest manifestation of love, it is important for us to move toward that. And the way we do it is the Shravanam. So, Shravanam has two aspects.
One is hearing the pastimes and understanding it from the right sources. And the second is the chanting of the holy names. So, chanting is both a means by which we can enter the sacred pastimes of Radha and Krishna.
And it’s also the, actually it is, we are already entering into the pastime. It’s a matter of realization. And while hearing, it’s more important for us to have breadth, to depth than breadth.
And you talk elaborately about your journey also. I think that was a consistent strand of thought that unified and you could say personalize this whole discussion that how you actually were told to almost to write on this, to explore this particular pastime. And how although you have written one book, you have so much more to share.
And I was delighted to know that another book going much more detail into this pastime is coming. I look forward to that. So, thank you very much.
Is there anything you want to add or conclude? That the Maha Mantra is but the sonic embodiment of the Ras Mangala. Sonic embodiment, yes. It’s what we’re doing.
It’s what we’re all about. Even if you don’t feel it or experience it, that is what we’re doing. We are replicating the Ras Mangala in the sound, in the sounds of the Maha Mantra.
We’re celebrating the Ras Mangala. This is the essence of our tradition. It really is truly the essence.
Beautiful. Thank you very much. We look forward to our next discussion on the Ras Leela.
Thank you always, Chaitanya Chanchi. My pranams, my pranams to you.