In Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: A Theological Perspective, Steve Bohlert offers a rigorous theology to satisfy the needs of many of us, especially Westerners, who are looking for an eclectic perspective that also offers real intellectual rigor. Why read this book? In the twenty-first century, we are presented with an unprecedented diversity of worldviews and perspectives. […]
Steve Bohlert comments on these lines from his book: “The extreme love shared by Radha-Krishna and their devotees feels especially sweet and attractive. Radha-Krishna invite everyone to join their intimate community of lovers. . . . God-dess created infinite beings for infinite new loving relationships. Radha-Krishna hide their awesome, majestic nature and emphasize their sweet, […]
Browsing the local used bookstore, I found Thomas Moore’s The Soul of Sex: Cultivating Life as an Act of Love, Harper Collins, 1998. Some books have a classic timeless appeal, and this is one of them. I found it a delightful read since his views are similar to mine. We are both former monks who […]
Rereading The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong, I saw an affinity between Universalist Radha-Krishnaism and those great ancient traditions. She writes about what “Karl Jaspers called the Axial Age because it was pivotal to the spiritual development of humanity. From about 900 to 200 BCE, in four distinct regions, […]
14 The purpose of this avatara [Chaitanya] was to taste the sweetness of the juice of prema-rasa, and to propagate among people the bhakti of the raga-marga. 15 Krishna, the crest-jewel of rasikas, the epitome of mercy and grace, [descended] in the desire to be the source of these two things. 16 “All the world is […]
What does it mean that Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is a life affirming philosophy? It means accepting our embodied state and this world as a God-dess given gift. Since we are children of God-dess, he-she only gives us good things. The glories of nature are the best visible manifestations of God-dess we have. Our body-mind-spirit nature is […]
It was raining last night
but we could feel rain was approaching, many days before
Some gems were falling down
and some pearls scattered from heavens …
Yet, absorbed in each other’s love and lost in each other’s thoughts there is scarcely room in their hearts for thought of anything else. God-dess and the devotee become mutually subservient to each other and surrender their freedom to each other. The pure divine love of the devotee controls God-dess.
The blissful energy enables God-dess to enjoy bliss and infuses bliss into the hearts of loving devotees. The essence of the blissful energy is divine love. The fullest manifestation of divine love is Radha, the eternal consort or counter-whole of Krishna, the personal absolute. Just as Krishna possesses infinite divine energies in their highest perfection, […]