Vaishnavism 2 - Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

more intense your emotion, the more likelyit is to attract Krishna. (284-85)By modeling our emotions after those ofRadha and the cowherd girls, we are able toprogress. We learn to feel and pictureourselves as one of them. The more wedevelop love and longing for Radha-Krishna,the more they respond. It’s a reciprocalrelationship.65. Dr. McDaniel: . . . Smarana literallymeans ‘remembering,’ and the processinvolves a combined method of visualizationand meditation. Through the rigors of thismethod, one becomes first familiar with theintricacies of Krishna’s ideal world, and thenenters into it. This is Rupa Gosvami’scharacterization of raganuga bhakti. . . . themeditative techniques involved are given byone’s guru. In most of these lineages,initiation by a genuine guru is quiteimportant...through the grace of the guru,there’s a new birth, in a sense, which bearsmany shamanic undertones--the death ofthe old self and the birth of the new.(288-9)This is the process Lalita Prasad taught me.I offer it in my book and to qualified students.Connection to a teacher and lineage poursgrace upon us and opens the door to thespiritual world making us one of Radha-Krishna’s transcendental associates in training.66. Dr. McDaniel: . . . Divine madness is notconsidered to be an aberration, as is35