Swami Tripurari
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bhaktivedanta Tripurari (), also known as Swami BV Tripurari and formerly as Tripurari Swami, is an American author, poet, and
guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
, described as "a prominent master in the
Gaudiya Vaishnava Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...
lineage", and "one of the leading practitioners of
Bhakti-yoga Bhakti yoga ( sa, भक्ति योग), also called Bhakti marga (, literally the path of ''Bhakti''), is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity.Karen Pechelis (2014), ...
in the West".


Biography

Tripurari Swami was born Thomas Beaudry in 1949 in
Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...
. He devoted his youth to the pursuit of transcendental knowledge and mystic experience. His lifetime of spiritual practice and teaching has brought him notice in spiritual circles around the world and earned the appreciation of scholars and practitioners alike. He has been described as helping "scholars... apprehend more clearly the dynamic nature of the Krsna consciousness movement." Tripurari Swami met his initiating guru,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a repr ...
, in the spring of 1972, and joined the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known Colloquialism, colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Gaudiya Vaishnava Hinduism, Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was found ...
. Tripurari relates that he felt as though he had met a long-lost friend, as Prabhupada blessed him with his all-knowing glance. Over the years that followed, Prabhupada showered Tripurari with affection and repeatedly expressed his appreciation for Tripurari's selfless service and ability to inspire others. In 1974 Prabhupada instructed Tripurari in a widely circulated letter, "So you organize freely. You are the incarnation of book distribution. Take the leadership and do the needful." Accordingly, Tripurari Swami has set an example of one who is independently thoughtful and capable of making an insightful literary contribution to the world. Before accepting
sannyasa ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' As ...
in 1975, Tripurari Swami was known as Tripurari dasa. Shortly before Prabhupada's death, he suggested that, should the need arise, his students could receive further instruction from his elder "godbrother" (a disciple of the same guru),
Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (; 10 October 1895 – 12 August 1988) was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasa, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, founder-president-acharya of t ...
. Tripurari Swami was present when Prabhupada gave this instruction, however, it was not until several years later, in the midst of the confusion that followed Prabhupada's departure, that it would affect the course of Tripurari Swami's spiritual pursuit. Tripurari Swami expresses his experience of hearing from and serving Swami Sridhara thus: "With the setting of the sun of the manifest pastimes of our beloved preceptor, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the world became dark. Then suddenly in the shadows of the night the reflected light of the moonlike discourse of Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami flooded the path with new light and dynamic insight that illumined the inner landscape, leading me to the soul of Srila Prabhupada and Gaudiya Vaisnavism." The association and instructions of Swami B. R. Sridhara profoundly affected Tripurari Swami, and under his guidance, Tripurari Swami (now known as Swami Bhaktivedanta Tripurari) began initiating his own students in 1985.


Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society

After the death of ISKCON founder Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Tripurari Swami become the leader of a reform groups opposed other
ISKCON The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...
teachers' accepting veneration as gurus ( zonal acharyas) in the same manner as Prabhupada. At the same time, he had received initiation from Prabhupada's "godbrother" (a disciple of the same guru),
Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (; 10 October 1895 – 12 August 1988) was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasa, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, founder-president-acharya of t ...
. The reform groups formed in 1985 the "Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society" (GVS), and later, Tripurari established also a religious order and monastery, the "Sri Caitanya Sangha". In 1988, the GVS began to print periodical ''The Clarian Call''. The new organisation remains original principles of the ISKCON, however, its members trace their guru lineage from Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar.


Reviews

In 1998,
Yoga Journal ''Yoga Journal'' is a website and digital journal, formerly a print magazine, on yoga as exercise founded in California in 1975 with the goal of combining the essence of traditional yoga with scientific understanding. It has produced live events ...
gave Tripurari Swami's ''Aesthetic Vedanta'' a one-paragraph review In 2002, ''Bhagavad Gita: Its Feeling and Philosophy'', was reviewed in Yoga Journal, and then by
Arvind Sharma Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University. Sharma's works focus on Hinduism, philosophy of religion. In editing books his works include ''Our Religions'' and ''Women in World Religions,'' ''Feminism in W ...
in 2005 for the
Journal of Vaishnava Studies The ''Journal of Vaishnava Studies'', also known as ''Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies'', is an academic journal that was established in 1992 by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa), a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It i ...
.


Publications

*''Rasa – Love Relationships in Transcendence'', Mandala, 1995. *''Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance'', Mandala, 1995. *''Jiva Goswami's Tattva-Sandarbha: Sacred India's Philosophy of Ecstasy'', Mandala, 1996. *''Aesthetic Vedanta: The Sacred Path of Passionate Love'', Mandala, 1998. *''Bhagavad-gita: Its Feeling and Philosophy'', Mandala, 2001. *"''Bhagavad-gita'': Seeing Nonviolence in the Violent Play of God." In Steven J. Rosen, ed., ''Holy War: Violence and the Bhagavad-gita'', Deepak Heritage Books, 2002. *''Form of Beauty'', with B. G. Sharma. Mandala, 2005 (2nd edition). *''Gopala-tapani Upanisad''. Audarya, 2004. *''
Siksastaka The Shikshashtakam (IAST: ) is a 16th-century Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu prayer of eight verses composed in the Sanskrit language. They are the only verses left personally written by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 – 1534) with the majority of his philo ...
m of Sri Caitanya''. Mandala, 2006. *''Sacred Preface'', Darshan Press, 2016.


References


External links


Personal website.

The Harmonist
of the Sri Caitanya Sanga, a.k.a. Audarya, publishes articles relevant to
Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...
under Tripurari Swami editorial supervision.
Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj
- a hagiography from the organization he founded, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. {{DEFAULTSORT:Swami, Tripurari 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians 21st-century Hindu philosophers and theologians 20th-century Hindu religious leaders 21st-century Hindu religious leaders American spiritual teachers American theologians American male writers American non-fiction writers American Hare Krishnas Former International Society for Krishna Consciousness religious figures Founders of new religious movements Hindu missionaries Hindu monks Hindu new religious movements Gaudiya religious leaders Presidents of religious organizations Living people 1949 births People from Teaneck, New Jersey