We shouldn’t worship a God who is too small and can fit into the box of our understanding. God-dess is beyond our understanding. Yet when we empty ourselves and make room, God-dess can reveal his/herself fully. This is an experience beyond words and concepts.
Thank you for your book, Steve. . . . Like all of your writings, I find it helpful. I like what you write about unity and diversity in religions. I am always indebted to you for . . . helping me know that its ok to to take what is useful and leaving the rest. […]
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. […]
My recent study of Stoicism and Existentialism finds them lacking, although not without redeeming qualities. Existentialism says our life answers the question, “What is the meaning of life?†better than our philosophy may. To this end, I lived my life as art to make a statement that I present in An Authentic Life: A Spiritual […]
Bhaktivinode Thakur said, “Material examples are absolutely necessary for the explanation of spiritual ideas.†“Nature as it is before our eyes must explain the spirit, or else the truth will ever remain concealed.†“All spiritual ideas are similarly pictures from the material world, because matter is the dictionary of the spirit.†There is an “unfailing […]
This Natural Devotion Trailer touches on some key points from the playlist. Lalita Prasad Thakur initiated Steve Bohlert into this practice of meditating on becoming a girlfriend of Radha, the Supreme Goddess, which is the goal of Chaitanya Vaishnavism. He uses contemporary western language to explain traditional concepts. A non-dual, panentheistic perspective and self-surrender to […]
This video concludes my comments on the second chapter of Universalist Radha-Krishnaism called Amorous Paths. In Universalist Radha-Krishnaism’s panentheistic view, the world is a manifestation of God-dess who shines through all. God-dess is present in and as the cosmos. Radha-Krishna exist as the anima and animus within us, and we seek the inner union of the […]
A Contemporary Scholarly Survey of Radha-Krishna Devotion Several years ago, I read Vaishnavism: Contemporary Scholars Discuss the Gaudiya Tradition, Folk Books, 1992 edited by Steven J. Rosen, foreword by Edward C. Dimock, Jr.. I benefited from it, and wrote an essay in response that I published on my website. I reread the essay in 2013 […]
Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (FC) says, What is reality? We humans only have access to the internal experiences of perception and thought, so how can we be sure they truly reflect an external world? Philosophers have long recognized this problem. . . . And physicists […]
This book is sufficiently important that its wide dissemination amongst devotees is a desideratum. . . . old beliefs are given apparently radical new interpretations that widen their scope and potential for meaning. . . . Subal [Steve Bohlert] has done a great service by introducing or naming the Vaishnava concept of deity as panentheism. . . . I favor rÄgÄnugÄ [natural devotion], as it seems does Subal, precisely because it . . . is about reforming the id-controlled ego into a love-permeated ego. . . . There is no doubt that Subal’s is an important brick in the wall of religious discourse . . . His great contribution . . . is that he has gone out on a limb and attempted to make a coherent and systematic presentation of Radha-Krishna according to his vision. This means of course that he has set himself up for criticism, but that kind of courage is what is needed to push the discourse further. — Jagadananda Das/Jan Brzezinski, translator and annotator of Mystic Poetry: Rupa Gosvamin’s Uddhava-sandeÅ›a & HamsadÅ«ta.