How to study Vaishnavism systemically

[anirvan]

Pranam to all,

I want to study Vaishnavism thoroughly and proceed systemically.My emphasis is on Gaudiya tradition and authentic literature. Though english is perfect,but I love to read Hindi.How and where to get those.(non ISKON books).

[Sahasranama]

Here is a gaudiya vaishnava resource.

http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-a-magazines-mainmenu-63.html

[anirvan]

Thanks Sahasranam,i got a mail from Grames with above link and few others.I am looking for some text books as well.

[Jainarayan]

Namaste Sahasranama.


Here is a gaudiya vaishnava resource.

http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-a-magazines-mainmenu-63.html

That is a wonderful site. One of the best parts is the Calendar Services (http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/vaisnava-calendar-mainmenu-71.html). :)

These are primarily ISKCON, however.

http://www.krishnasmercy.org/dotnetnuke/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
http://www.krishnaculture.com/index.html (an on-line store, but still good information).
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/

[SriGauranga]

Just curious...why don't you want to read ISKCON translations?

[Jainarayan]

Me? I have nothing against ISKCON or its translations. Though I find Srila Prabhupada's translation and interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita more conservative and narrow than others I read. I was only indicating that those are ISKCON-related sites. Though I myself am partial to the Advaita lineage of swamis.

[SriGauranga]

I meant it for anirvan. Anyways...since you have answered. I agree Srila Prabhupada's tranlation might be narrow. But path to liberation is narrow too. Am I right? As Krishna says:BG 7.3: "Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth".So if path to liberation is narrow then you got be narrow too :)

[Jainarayan]

I agree Srila Prabhupada's tranlation might be narrow. But path to liberation is narrow too. Am I right?

Point taken. :)

[Vaikuntha Bound.]

Dear Anirvan,

The www.bhaktistore.com website associated with purebhakti has a couple of older works available. If you want something probably significantly different from ISKCON's perspective, you might take a look at:

http://www.krishnacaitanya.com/

Which is the website of Western students of Ananta das Babaji.

Unless there is a real scholar of Gaudiya thought on here, you might want to just take a look at the websites of different teachers and see who seems authentic to you. Then you can maybe ask them for help in putting together a course of study. That's a real undertaking, and requires a broad base of knowledge.

Keep us posted on how this develops. I really enjoy hearing about people's studies.

All the best,

VB

[Vaikuntha Bound.]

Dear SriGauranga,

While a person who might be fully surrendered to God might be exceedingly rare(which is what I see when I look at that verse), what the surrender looks like in the life of each person might be very different. People also are at different places in their lives, which means that how God's grace is unfolding in their lives is very different, too. Rare doesn't necessarily mean homogeneous or narrow.

I, for one, like Srila Prabhupada. I read his books, and his translation of Bhagavad Gita was the first I ever read. Some may call him narrow, and that's up to them. I went to a Krsna Janmashtami celebration at a Hindu temple with friends and my family and had the temple priest simply walk away from me and my offering. Instead, fifty years ago, Srila Prabhupada looked at the west and said, I want to go spread love of Krsna there. That's a fairly expansive soul. I don't consider him my personal teacher, but I definitely think his narrowness is exaggerated.