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Originally Posted by Joe Mc
Must have been interesting to be around in those days. I watched a documentary on Prabupad during the lockdown. If i find the link i'll post it. It was quite amazing the fact that Prapupad arrived as he did aged 70 with very little or no contacts in New York and set about starting the Hare Krishna movement. He was warned by many not to go etc. Really a testament to human veracity, faith, courage whatever. Obviously I'm not really endorsing Iskcon. It was pointed out to me by a jnani one time that I was a bhakti, i have to say I didn't fully understand what he was on about.( he was mostly a follower of Ramana Maharshi and a very enlightened soul indeed) But today i still don't know what he was on about  I suppose I don't see a rigid and formal training structure like Iskcon as the only way to be a bhakta or a servant of the Divine. I'm very tempted here to slag off 'jnanis' with their endless argumentations it seems but that is a wrong understanding. I suppose the path of the jnani offers an opportunity to go astray down the road of argumentation, although they probably see a beauty in this type of arguing that i cannot see so clearly ? Of course there is also a shadow side to practicing bhakti yoga, perhaps becoming overly compliant and not standing up for oneself ? But im not so sure what do you think ?
Just discovered this one today, looking for a more well known chant, I'm sure it's based on a poem by Rumi :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEvTcmw25yY
I was looking for this one, another fine Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UfsxvDRrIw
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It's interesting to hear your impressions of the jnanis and Ramana Maharshi as I personally am jnani-inclined with high degrees of bhakti as well as karma yoga. As you know from the Bhagavad Gita, three personality types are identified with suitable practices for each: jnani, bhakti, and karma yogis.
Prabhupada was an intriguing and charismatic bhakti devotee of Lord Krishna with unwavering faith. Being a jnani, you can imagine that we had some interesting personal interactions.
The jnani approach is not for everyone. As a matter of fact, I have often said that, given a large group of people whom I had not met before, I would probably mention all three approaches but focus primarily on bhakti (unless there are strong indications to the contrary) as it harnesses one's emotions and focuses them on an
ideal. It should be noted that jnanis often have a bhakti element in the form of Lord Shiva who is considered to be the Lord of Yoga and Meditation. Ramana Maharshi was considered by many to be an incarnation of Shiva.
Many jnanis can be argumentative, as you duly noted, but the jnani approach is quite effective for those who can deal with it. I have noticed that jnanis can fully understand and relate to the bhakti and karma yoga approaches ... but .... it seems that most bhaktis and karma yogis have difficulties in relating to the jnani approach for reasons which are quite obvious at least to me.
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It's interesting that you should mention Rumi, as he is one of my favorites and I am actually going to a Rumi reading this evening, Thursday, September 3rd, which I believe is held every Thursday at 7 PM. This will be my first time so I am not in a position to comment further. It was mentioned on a Sufi site that I frequent so I think that it should be interesting.
*Topic: Rumi Reading
Time: 7pm est
Date: Thursday’s
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