WVA IC SEEKS VOLUNTEERS
by Bhakti Ananda Goswami
WVA Interfaith Committee

Volunteers wanted:
Establishment of the WVA Interfaith Committee

One Scholar's Historical Perspective

The World Vaishnava Association is seeking to establish an Interfaith Committee, to promote the non-sectarian mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Rama. In the days of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's Earthly pastimes, Their bhakti yoga Sankirtan movement inaugurated an astounding non-sectarian religious revival and social phenomenon, which has been called by scholars the “Bengali Renaissance”. This religio-social Charismatic movement embraced, and was embraced by, not only various branches of Vaishnavas, but Shaivites, Devi Worshipers, Buddhists, and even Muslims. Its non-sectarian, pure bhakti appeal was so overwhelming, that all kinds of devotees were caught up in it.  Scholars have written about this Sankirtan movement's wide-reaching social effects.  

After Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's disappearance, Their Sankirtan movement was carried on by Their illustrious followers,  a small army of saints, whose individual histories are quite amazing themselves. Their non-sectarian bhakti yoga movement stimulated moral reformation, a spiritual revival of the masses, general literacy, and produced masterpieces of devotional literature, prayers, hymns, and liturgy.  It created a revival in all of the sacred arts and sciences in Bengal.  Birth-caste barriers were eased, there was increased social mobility, and the status of women greatly improved.  Religious hostilities were much relieved, contributing to a more peaceful and prosperous public order.  

There was a distinct difference between this and the other great devotional revival movements of history. The earlier Charismatic movement of the Indian Alvar saints had produced a profound effect in its time, and other great charismatic bhakti yoga movements had swept across India and the ancient world from age to age.  These popular bhakti devotional movements shared some core doctrines and practices with Sri Chaitanya's and Sri Nityananda's Sankirtan movement. In addition to the bhakti movements started by the great Indian Vaishnava acharyas like Sri Madhvacharya and Sri Ramanujacharya,  there were also great devotional movements which swept like waves across North Africa, Europe, and Asia. Some of these were the great Bridal Mysticism and Caroling religious fairs of the Middle Ages’ Catholic Europe, the Catholic rosary devotion to Jesus through Mary, and the popular Eastern Rite Catholic and Orthodox Christian practice of constantly reciting the Jesus Prayer.  Later there was a great revival of the rosary devotion to “Jesus living in Mary,” led by Saint Louis de Montfort in France, which spread like wild-fire across Europe. Beside the great Catholic revivals led by Saint Francis of Assisi and other Christian mystics of the 11th and 12th centuries, also during that era was the rise of the Sufi Divine Love tradition of Rumi, al Ghazali, Suhrawardi, and the woman saint Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya.  A central practice of this devotion was the invocation of the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah. In Japan, the Pure Land bhakti Buddhist saints Honen, Shinran, Ippen, and Nicherin eventually popularized the constant repetition of Amitabha Buddha's (HRIH's) Name as the “Nembutsu,” “Namu Amida Butsu,” and His “Sun-Lotus” mantra.  In Judaism, devotion to Hashem, the Holy Name, and the Kabalistic study of Shekinah (Shakti) Bridal Mysticism also flourished from time to time.  There was also a revival of related Jewish spirituality in the 11th and 12th centuries, with the rise of Hasidic and Mediterranean Neo-Platonic Jewish mysticism.  All of these movements were actually historically related to Vaishnavism, and had an inner or esoteric core of Bridal Mysticism, and an exoteric, outer Charismatic (Charisma is ATTRACTION, KRISHNA IS ALL-ATTRACTIVE) movement aspect of devotion to the constant invocation of Godhead through His Holy Name. 

On the surface of it, what then was different about the Charismatic Holy Name bhakti yoga movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's and Sri Nityananda Rama's Bengali Renaissance? While all of these other movements tended to unite the various lineages and sectarian off-shoots of the great religions, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's movement alone united devotees of the Lord not only across Vaishnava sectarian boundaries, but across the boundaries of the great religions themselves!  It also drew mere lay followers directly into the mystical core of devotion to God in the Bridal Mysticism mood of Divine conjugal love. Such “conjugal” mysticism was generally restricted to the priests, monks, nuns, and ascetics of the other bhakti traditions. However,  Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers ultimately made the rarified heights of Divine Love mysticism accessible to pious commoners, men, women and householders, initiates and lay people alike. It was said that Sri Chaitanya and Sri Nityananda Rama “plundered the storehouse of love of God, and distributed its treasure to all, regardless of their qualification”!  This act of God's unconditional grace on undeserving humanity was the essence of the non-sectarian bhakti yoga revival movement of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Their saintly followers. 

In the ecstatic footsteps of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga, for the first time, humanity had a foretaste of the possibility of a future GLOBAL NON SECTARIAN BHAKTI YOGA MOVEMENT, WHICH COULD EMBRACE ALL OF FAITHFUL HUMANITY IN A DEVOTIONAL UNITY OF DIVERSITY. This unity was only possible, because the realized devotees of the various Bridal Mysticism inner traditions could recognize RADHA-KRISHNA as their own HOLY MOTHER and FATHER GOD, and could appreciate that here was the essence of both their inner and outer sacred traditions presented as a NON-SECTARIAN EXPRESSION OF PURE BHAKTI YOGA. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda were not mere clever religious syncretists, Who had forged some artificial hybrid of various traditions. They were re-presenting a common tradition so primal and pure, that it was in fact, at the esoteric revelatory heart of all the various great devotional traditions. Furthermore, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai seemed to embody in Themselves the theology and ecstatic realization of the Primal Love tradition and the Primal Salvific tradition.  Sri Chaitanya's ecstatic private revelation of the Bridal Mysticism of Radha and Krishna was unmatched in religious history. Sri Nityananda Rama embodied the entire theology of Sri Krishna's first expansion, the Second Person of the Godhead, Sri Balarama, the savior, spiritual master, Nama-Rupa of God for Pastimes, and mercy of Godhead incarnate.  Thus, between the esoteric Bridal Mysticism of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the exoteric Rig Vedic Varnashrama Dharma Purusha (Vishnu) Mysticism of Nityananda Balarama, all of the inner and outer traditions of the other related great bhakti religions were comprehended. Thus there was an undeniable theological-historical and a mystical-ecstatic reality underlying the visible harmonization of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's non-sectarian unity-in-diversity movement.  The apparent exoteric “interfaith” unity of the movement did not disappear as mere emotionality or sentiment upon close analysis.  Instead, deeper analysis revealed ever deeper layers of profound historical, theological, and mystical connectedness between the great bhakti religions, with Radha-Krishna and Balarama at their historical revelatory core. This unity is what my own research as an historian of religion has focused on for over the last 30 years. 

Thus, from its very beginning, the mission of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai was far more than the mere perpetuation of a single specific sectarian lineage of initiation within Vaishnavism.   Nor was it merely a mission to unite all of the orthodox Vaishnava lineages.  Rather, the complete mission of Sri Sri Guru (Nityananda Rama and His Representatives) and Gauranga was nothing less than the global bhakti unity of all humanity.....a unity transcendent to race, class, gender, language, education, occupation, and even lineage, diksha or creed......a unity based on our common heritage of adoration to the same Original Supreme Personality of Godhead, one Father HARI,  one Savior BALADEVA, one Immanent Holy Spirit PARAMATMA , and veneration to SRI RADHA (Rhoda), Their SHAKTI (Shekinah), the Loving Holy Mother of us all!   

So while diksha lineages should and must continue in all the great bhakti traditions, and while Gaudiya and other Vaishnavas must carry on their “sectarian” sacred traditions, we Gaudiya Vaishnavas also have another mission, which is to forge non-sectarian alliances with all of our relatives in the great global bhakti family of SRI HARI (Jewish and Christian ELI, Muslim ALI, Pure Land Buddhist HRIH, etc.). This does not mean merging everyone in together and creating one super-religion by obliterating “sectarian”  differences. Instead, we must create a unity that leaves our diversity intact, but transcends it! This is done through the process of federation or alliance. The very ancient great Vedic civilizations of Varnashrama Dharma unity-in-diversity were based on regional interfaith alliances or LEAGUES OF DEVOTEES. When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada first conceived of the way to globally embody Sri Chaitanya's non-sectarian movement, he called it a League of Devotees.  This league structure is the dharmic key to the social embodiment of a non-sectarian, or super- (beyond, above) sectarian movement. In an alliance (league) of mutually respecting Vaishnava lineages, Indian Vaishnavism can be united, leaving all the ancient lineages intact. In the same way, ever-increasing alliances can be formed with other fundamentally compatible authentic bhakti lineages, respecting their traditions, and leaving respect for their unique guru, shastra and sadhu intact. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not require anyone to leave their own devotional tradition to take up the practices of His bhakti yoga movement.  Sita-Rama, Lakshmi-Narayana, Lakshmi-Narasimha, Durga-Shiva, Buddhist, and Muslim devotees did not all abandon their special and even exclusive “sectarian” love for the Lord. Instead, the inclusive ACHINTYA-BHEDABHEDA-TATTVA doctrine of Sri Chaitanya reconciled peoples' various devotions to the Persons of the Godhead, Their multi-Forms, and even the impersonal Brahman. In His theology of inconceivable oneness-and-difference, Sri Gauranga was able to reconcile all lesser differences and even opposites, by allowing paradox to exist within the context of a higher and greater transcendent unity in the mystery of the Godhead.  

The moral practices of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's movement were also non-sectarian and universally applicable virtuous practices of the highest personal and social ideals. Thus pious Shaivites, Buddhists, and even Muslims were attracted to take them up. Altogether there was no theological or moral impediment to any devotee's non-sectarian participation in the Sankirtan movement. Carrying on in this inclusive tradition today, the mandate of the World Vaishnava Association Interfaith Committee therefore has the potential to foster the global realization of an inclusive League of Devotees.  This is in keeping with the vision of my own beloved Master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. For example, when he came to the United States in the 1960s, he invited all devotees of the Lord to participate in the Sankirtan movement. As a devoted Christian, I was welcomed to participate in Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai's non-sectarian bhakti yoga revival by my saintly Gaudiya Vaishnava master.  He never required me to renounce my devotion to Jesus Christ, or the practice of my Catholic faith. Rather, he challenged me as a Christian to perfect my moral life and devotion, rooting out anything from my life that could compete with my love for God. Thus he was the perfect spiritual master for me AS A CHRISTIAN, directing me into the fullness of realization in my own Christian devotion. Such devotional inclusivity as exemplified by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami is true non-sectarianism, and a model for the unity-in-diversity of all authentic bhakti yoga traditions.  

If a non-sectarian Bhakti Yoga movement can include devotees of Stia Rama, Radha Krishna, Lakshmi Narayana, Lakshmi Narasimha, and other Forms of the Lord and His Shakti, then what is the question of it including the devotees of other Vaishnava-related ancient Bhakti Yoga Traditions from outside of India?. Differences in theology and rasa between the Vaishnava Traditions in India may be extreme. But these differences should not be a barrier to the various Vaishnavas creating a society of mutual appreciation.  Such differences need not be a barrier to our seeking to build pious bhakti yoga alliances with members of the historically related great religions and other sincere devotees of the Lord. The WVA is taking the bold step to reach out to the rest of the Indian Vaishnava community, and the rest of the devotees in the world, to begin to build such an alliance, a non-sectarian League of Devotees of the Supreme Personality Of Godhead. With the prayers and blessings of the Vaishnavas, Sri Sri Guru (Lord Baladeva and Srila Prabhupada and all our acharyas), and Sri Gauranga, anything is possible,  so let us begin! 

your aspiring servant,
WVA-IC Interim Coordinator,

Bhakti Ananda Goswami 

Due to declining health, Bhakti Ananda Goswami is seeking a qualified volunteer, or volunteers, to carry on the mission of establishing the WVA Interfaith Committee.  If you are  interested in this service, please contact him at: bhakti.eohn@verizon.net