Lord Krishna and His other Incarnations

In actual fact, there is no difference in essence between Lord Krishna and the different incarnations for they are all situated in the transcendental platform being above the modes of nature in contrast to the living entity who is conditioned and bound by these modes.All those forms are eternal and full of bliss without any trace of the ordinary material flaws while being complete in itself.Just as a beautiful translucent gem will appear in different hues of colour according to the position it is placed ,similarly the Lord may reciprocate in myriad ways with his loving devotees according to their individual moods.It is at this point that the Lord Krishna can exhibit all five loving moods namely,unattached, servitude,friendship,parental ending in the quintessence of all,which is the conjugal loving mood while the other Vishnu forms are limited to only half of these ,that is two and the half in totality .The half here connotes little of friendship.It is in this perspective we say that Lord Krishna is most complete and the source of all the other incarnations by virtue of having more qualities.On the other hand all the other incarnations are equal to the original as explained in the Brahma Samhita-diparcirevahidasantaram abhyupetya---dipayatevivrta hetu samana dharma,yastadrgeva hi cha vishnutaya vibhati ,govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami
meaning : I worship Lord Govinda the source of all incarnations , who is the the original being in the way one candle is used to light other candles whichall give an equal amount of light in power similarly Lord Govinda is the origin of all other incarnations.
Thus there is in this regard no difference between Lord Rama and Lord Krishna in esscence even though we regard Lord Krishna as the origin of all others.Similarly in this light, the devotees do not see any difference between the Mahabharatha ,Geeta and the Bhaghavat even though the Mahabharatha do contains sections which emphasizes the superiority of knowledge and works with the apparent adulteration of pure devotion.The devotees are not bewildered by all these as the demoniac class of people in their random interpretations .

has not Sanatan Goswami forbadden the wearing of the ocre cloth

It is true the scriptures have even forbidden the taking of the renounced order in the age of Kali ,However this prohibition is restricted to those who have the conception of Sanyassa or renounced order as the renouncing of all material works.The fact of the matter is, all the prominent Vaishnava Acaryas took to the renounced order in the light of unalloyed service to the Supreme Lord. What to speak,Even Mahaprabhu took to this order to exemplify dedicated service to the Lord to the common people.A geniune devotee of the Lord is not within the jurisdiction of any caste and order in life ,being transcendental to all these .Therefore ,it is not necessary nor is he obligated to wear the stigma of the Varnashrama system as the ochre robes.The reason why we are wearing the robes is that we are neither Guru nor Vaishnava in any way but hoping to be the servant of the Vaishnavas while humbly identifying ourselves within the Varnashrama system.We are contended to be the real servant of the genuine servant of the Vaishnavas.

Srila Sridhara Swami was not a mayavadi

In actual fact Sridhara Maharaj was never an impersonalist but more to Purified Advaita(suddhaadvaita).In his line of thought the living entity is a plenary portion of God,Maya is considered an energy of the Lord while The material world is the sport of the Lord so in in one sense these three are interrelated with the Supreme Lord(vastu).In the Second verse of the Bagavatam, vedyamvastavm atra vastu sivadam, lSrila Sridhar Swami has commented by saying that all the three namely the living entity is a portion of the whole(Vastu),the external energy maya its energy, and the material world the play of the Vastu which clearly proves he was never an impersonalist for the mayavadis do not believe in the existence of the three,jiva ,maya and the external world ,for them only the vastu(brahman) is real.
Next in his Bhavartha commentary,Srila Sridhara Swami has never mentioned any other Acarya with the exception of Srila Vishnuswami,founder of Purified Impersonalism(suddha advaita),his commentaries have a almost absolute leaning to the theories propagated by the latter.He ,Sridhara Swami was a votary of Lord Nrsingha as he himself wrote in his commentary-Nrsingham aham bhaje.
Further the impersonalists would perform worship of all including Siva but ultimately their goal was to desire to merge in the impersonal Brahman but we can understand that Sridhara Swami accepted Lord Krishna as the Supreme and Lord Siva ,His devotee according to that Rudra disciplic sucession.(Vishnuswami)
He has accepted the non difference between the holy name and the Supreme which Rupa Goswami has collected and written in his book 'Padyavali' ,in contrast , the impersonalists do not believe in the existence of the Lord's name ,form ,qualities as eternal and as non different to the Supreme himself.
Finally Sriman Mahaprabhu has hailed Srila Sridhara Swami as the champion of devotion and the Acarya of the Holy Bhagavat while He has condemned the ordinary impersonalists as destroyers of devotion which is the conclusive proof.

continued -importance of sanyassa

Srila Prabhodhanda has glorified the sanyassa ashram with his verse in the Chaitanya Chandramrita.In this verse he has advised the ordinary monks and householders to take sanyassa solely for the transcendental service of Mahaprabhu and not in the hope of becoming Mahaprabhu.Srila Gadadhar Pandit had taken sanyassa and demonstrated the real meaning of the renounced order by the exclusive service of the Lord ,whilst staying in the township of Puri.He had a sanyassa disciple who was initiated under the name of Madhavacharya.He ,Madhavacharya later awarded the sanyassa order to a god brother of his guru named Vallabha Bhatta who received it before his final dissapearance from this world.Srila Sridhara Swami who was extolled by Mahaprabhu as the Bhagavat Acarya, has glorified the sanyassa order as most praiseworthy.The 108 designations accruing to the sanyassa order coupled with the 100 names of the Acaryas can be obtained from the Vishnuswami line of succession .Similarly the Ramanuja sect has written about the method of sanyyassa

continued-the importance of the renounced order

The associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu consisted of two types ,thosewho were remaining in the householder order of life and the other were renunciates still all these associates were universal teachers and therefore the householder devotees could stay in either the forest or the home being completely detached.Householder devotees too can in special cases act as spiritual guides foruplifting the the most fallen among society.The asocciates of these types were constantly engaging their mind,body and senses in the service of the Lord and have taught real renouncement so similiarly the Vaishnava sanyassi has to be engaged in this manner.In this respect they are following the path as enunciated by the Avanti Brahmin in the renouncement of material life(11 canto Bhagavatam).Srila Rupa Goswami in the first verse of Upedesamrita has given us an inkling as to what renouncement entails.Furthurmore in Bhaktirasamrita Sindhu the verse begining with iha yasya harer dasye karmano manaso gira the nature of the renounced order is exemplified;Srila Prabhodhanda Saraswati,a stalwart devotee and intimate associate was the guru of Srila Goplala Bhatta Goswami, the compiler of Vaishnava regulations in worship.Srila Prabhodhanda in his verse dante nidhaya trnakam of Chaintinya Chandramrta

the necessity of the sanyassa ashram

Many people query about the evidence regarding the embracing of the highest order or renounced order in the age of Kali.In the transcendental literature of the Srimad Bhaghavatam (11 canto)the story of the Avanti Brahmin who became renounced from material life is the best example of the process of taking the renounced order of our Gaudiya Vaishnavas.Our R upanuga acarya Gopal Bhatta goswami has compiled treatises like the Hari Bhakti Vilas ,Samskara Dipika and others and have explained the method and importance of the sanyassa order.SriDyancandra has in fact termed the sansyassa order as the most important samskara(purifying ritual)in His Samskar Candrika with many important references from the sciptures to elucidate his point.The other ancient books which testify to this point areBhaghava Chandrika ,Pramesumala,Satadusan with many different viewpoints and qoutations from other scriptures. Numerous Texts inclarding this uding the Javalopanishade,Srimad Bhagavatam as mentioned,Bhavarthadepika by Sridhara Swami,Skanda Purana,Padma Purana,Satwata Samhita,ManuSamhita,Ekadashi Tattva thevarious 21 dharma sciptures etc has given enough evidence regarding this matter.In Bhag(11/29/19)there is mention that everybody has to rise to the platform of a proper Vaishnava renunciate for actual spiritual advancement.
yavat sarvesu bhuteshu madbhavo nopajayate tavad evam upasita monovakkayavrittibhih ! Lord Krishna tells Uddhava that until one can see my presence in all living entities till then one has to worship me with his mind ,speech and body.
Tri means the three and danda means to restrain, therefore tridanda sanyassa means to restrain the three which is of the mind ,body and words in the service of the Supreme Lord Krishna.Again the Lord says, ayam hi sarva bhutanam samdrichino mato mama,madbhava sarva bhuteshu manovakkayavrittibhih meaning -The highest form of worship which pleases Me is to be able to see My presence in all living beings by engaging one's mind ,words and body.The second pont to note is all those on the highest path of ragamarga have to come to this pont of renunciation but here there is no compulsion of wearing the ochre robes,as in the Bhag(11/18/28) salinganam asramatyaktvacared viddhi agochara, for those on the highest platform are not bound by the ordinary rules of Varnaasrama Dharma

the explanation of the last verse of the Geeta

The famous verse uttered by the Supreme Lord SriKrishna at the end of his instructions to His beloved devotee and friend Arjuna was :sarva dharman parityagya
mam ekam saranam vraja,aham tvam sarva papebyah moksyasyami ma sucah.

1. Here the word darrma normally implies religion and righteous behavior but taken in the context of this instruction it means all types of obligatory duties which has to be necessarily performed by the person in the social arena for his well being and including material comforts.The point to note is this advice was given to Arjuna in a spiritual perspective for satisfaction and hapiness of the soul was deemed by the Lord as the highest goal of life.To explain further, Srila Saraswati Thakur has connoted the word dharma to mean upadhi or false designation(limited adjuncts).For example a man thinks he belongs to a certain race and he feels proud of it or a certain caste like of the highest order,or he may think of himself as an ascetic or feel himself very masculine or he may think himself as very learned or rich and vice versa .Unfortunately, all this are designations that the soul accrues in a certain life and relatively false from the standpoint of eternity.Therefore Lord Krishna tells him to give up these false designations artificially acquired by the mind and false ego and surrender to to Him alone who is the Supreme Lord ,assuring him that He will protect him from all sinful reactions.It is crucial here to understand and accept the Supreme Lord Krishna as the Supreme Divinity before the actual process of trying to surrender and that He cannot be compared to the other minor demigods that act under His jurisdiction.In this juncture it will be appropriate to mention that the constitutional position of the soul is as a servant of a God so surrender basically means to offer all the result's of our present works to God and to follow His laws in all aspects.Krishna assures Arjuna -.ma sucah -don't worry. Why is He saying that? -well because to give up all these designations is not pleasant and is a source of consternation for the soul.Therefore He mildly admonishes him to give up all that which is false with a reassurance that He will take care of him.This instruction is for all those souls wandering in this dismal abyss of the material world.