Every great cause has a coherent story that informs all its materials and presentations. Here is the story of our Esoteric Teaching school and Bridge Community:
We are on the cusp of a Golden Age of spiritual enlightenment based on Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teachings and mercy. Unfortunately in the transition to this Golden Age of Lord Caitanya, the planet must go through a convulsive Singularity of transformation and purification centered on the year 2012. Our strategy for this extraordinary time is to encourage the formation of autonomous, independent Self-Organizing Communities (SOCs) based on Lord Caitanya's Esoteric Teaching in various locations all over the world. We call these Bridge Communities because they bridge the gap between the obsolete materialistic consumerist society based on exploitation, and the dawning Golden Age of spiritual harmony with Humankind, Nature and God.
About 5,000 years ago, Lord Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally descended and appeared on this planet in what we now call India. He exhibited manifold ecstatic transcendental pastimes for 125 years and then returned to the spiritual world. A long dark age of materialism, ignorance and exploitation followed, during which most advanced knowledge was suppressed, especially in the West. This materialistic darkness began to dissipate only 500 years ago when Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa as His own devotee, appeared in Bengal.
The actual history of this planet and the original complete philosophy and practices of spiritual life are given in the Vedic culture. The Vedas are the most ancient spiritual writings, civilization and living tradition on this planet. The Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas is eternal, but it was written down by Śrīla Vyāsadeva (another incarnation of the Lord) around the time of Kṛṣṇa's appearance. Our esoteric school and spiritual community are situated in direct disciplic succession from Kṛṣṇa and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Our founder and spiritual master Gaurahari Dāsānudās Bābājī is an initiated senior disciple of His Divine Grace Bhaktivedānta Svāmī, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the greatest world spiritual teacher of recent times. Unfortunately, Śrīla Prabhupāda's organization (ISKCON) became corrupt, and we had to start a separate mission. Our community is deliberately small, personal and intimate, with no connection whatsoever to any other religious organization.
What sets our Esoteric Teaching community apart from other similar groups is that we accept only pure devotional service: uttama-bhakti as defined in Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, the ontological architect of our movement, in his masterpiece Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu:
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
"One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service." [Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]
kleśa-ghnī śubhadā mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt sudurlabhā
sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ca sā
“The unique characteristics of pure bhakti are: its ability to destroy suffering; its bestowal of auspiciousness; its disregard for liberation; its rarity of attainment; its manifestation of concentrated bliss; and its ability to attract Kṛṣṇa.” [Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.17]
We do not accept mixed devotional service, where one performs devotional activities while remaining attached to fruitive activities, material enjoyment, mental speculation, mystic powers, liberation or any other selfish material desire. Pure bhakti is the best method of spiritual progress. For this extremely high and rare (sudurlabhā) method of pure, unalloyed devotional service has extraordinary results extolled in the scriptures as cessation of all material misery (kleśaghnī), bestowal of great happiness and auspiciousness (śubhada), divine exaltation exceeding even the power of liberation (mokṣa-laghutākṛta), delivering condensed transcendental bliss (śāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā) and even attracting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself (śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī). This uttama-bhakti is the secret of success for the aspiring devotee.
Gaurahari Dāsānudās Bābājī our founder and Master Teacher is a talented musician, researcher and writer, who from childhood had a great desire to meet God face-to-face. He inquired into the world's great knowledge until he found Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas. He struggled for many years in ISKCON, finally left it and finished his sādhana on his own. By Śrīla Prabhupāda's personal blessings and Kṛṣṇa's extraordinary mercy, he attained complete self-realization, and now teaches others the same eternal spiritual truths and powerful methods of pure bhakti.
Our spiritual community builds a bridge between contemporary materialistic civilization and the timeless Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas. The Bridge Community values feature direct access to a self-realized soul and the original texts of the Vedas, open communication, honesty and transparency, consensus and accountability, delivering what we promise, straightforwardness and avoidance of politics and diplomacy. Our online community embodies the Vedic varṇāśrama system of four occupational divisions and four spiritual stages of life, along with unique educational and economic systems that protect the community form the corrupting influence of mass-market economy and politics. The relationship between the Bridge Community and its members is based on a mutual lifetime commitment to these spiritual values.
The Esoteric Teaching Bridge Community is centered on the University of Higher Knowledge. Its six Degree Programs take a disciple from the beginning of spiritual life to its highest success: complete self-realization or full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everyone is welcome to become a bona fide student of the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas, solve the problems of human life and attain eternal bliss in the spiritual world by practice of pure devotional service to the Lord. Please set aside some time to go deeply into our background and teachings, meet our community members, and experience this great Esoteric Teaching and its profound spiritual benefits for yourself.
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