On the 5th of March American professor Ravi Mohan Gupta delivered lecture in the Kyivan Vaishnava temple. Witnessing the kirtan performed by hundreds bhaktis he felt like making a leap in time, because such religious enthusiasm could have been seen only in America during times of Shrila Prabhupada. Originated from vaishnava family, mr. Ravi’s ancestors from generation to generation followed the tradition of gaudia vaishnavism.
The next day Ravi Gupta prabhu delivered lecture at the Institute of Philosophy named by G. S. Skovoroda as well as at the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv in the presence of His Excellency Embassador of India. The interest of academic community to the professor’s persona is natural, because he is the author of very serious academic research on the text “Catuhsutri Tika” – commentary on Brahma Sutra of the famous Indian saint and philosopher of XVI century Jiva Goswami. The text had not been studied before. Ravi Gupta prabhu in the very scrupulous way has juxtaposed manuscripts which came to our times and took to the account all differences in interpretations. In the result the book “The Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Goswami” had seen the world. It was translated by Yu. Yu. Zavgorodniy and O. Yu. Kukharuk. I had an honor to work on the planning imposition and general editing of the book. There is combination of spiritual vision, the tradition of religious practice and academic approach in Ravi Gupta prabhu’s book. Because of this it the book will be very interesting for the researchers as well as vaishnava bhaktis.
Unfortunately, there was no time to show Kyiv to the professor. Only after the sunset we were able to have a little walk from Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gate) to Maidan. Professor Ravi Gupta prabhu was really interested in the ancient Kyivan history as well as the relatively recent events on Maidan. I felt pride for the Ukrainian history. We reached Dnieper next day but still had less than an hour there to see the city. We came into the Temple of the Orthodox Church. It was pleasant to see with such respect Ravi Gupta prabhu treated Christian sacred symbols. I presented “ladan” (frankincense, olibanum) incense to him there.
Twenty minutes later Ravi Gupta prabhu started to deliver lecture for devotees with the question “Why the variety of religions exists?” Listening to many reasonable answers, Ravi Gupta prabhu proposed his one and I agree with him completely – God exists in His endless diversity and cannot be limited by only one image or representation. Different traditions have their revelations, true spiritual teachers and saints. Making a choice once, one has to be consistent on his way in the spiritual tradition.
The next day Ravi Gupta prabhu delivered lecture at the Institute of Philosophy named by G. S. Skovoroda as well as at the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv in the presence of His Excellency Embassador of India. The interest of academic community to the professor’s persona is natural, because he is the author of very serious academic research on the text “Catuhsutri Tika” – commentary on Brahma Sutra of the famous Indian saint and philosopher of XVI century Jiva Goswami. The text had not been studied before. Ravi Gupta prabhu in the very scrupulous way has juxtaposed manuscripts which came to our times and took to the account all differences in interpretations. In the result the book “The Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Goswami” had seen the world. It was translated by Yu. Yu. Zavgorodniy and O. Yu. Kukharuk. I had an honor to work on the planning imposition and general editing of the book. There is combination of spiritual vision, the tradition of religious practice and academic approach in Ravi Gupta prabhu’s book. Because of this it the book will be very interesting for the researchers as well as vaishnava bhaktis.
Unfortunately, there was no time to show Kyiv to the professor. Only after the sunset we were able to have a little walk from Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gate) to Maidan. Professor Ravi Gupta prabhu was really interested in the ancient Kyivan history as well as the relatively recent events on Maidan. I felt pride for the Ukrainian history. We reached Dnieper next day but still had less than an hour there to see the city. We came into the Temple of the Orthodox Church. It was pleasant to see with such respect Ravi Gupta prabhu treated Christian sacred symbols. I presented “ladan” (frankincense, olibanum) incense to him there.
Twenty minutes later Ravi Gupta prabhu started to deliver lecture for devotees with the question “Why the variety of religions exists?” Listening to many reasonable answers, Ravi Gupta prabhu proposed his one and I agree with him completely – God exists in His endless diversity and cannot be limited by only one image or representation. Different traditions have their revelations, true spiritual teachers and saints. Making a choice once, one has to be consistent on his way in the spiritual tradition.
