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The Bhagavata Podcast
The Bhagavata Podcast invites listeners on an engaging journey through the Bhagavata Purana, more commonly known as the Srimad Bhagavatam. Each episode features conversations between scholars, many of whom are also practitioners, as they reflect on and analyze a chapter of this text together. The podcast offers a unique blend of academic rigor and personal insight, providing fresh perspectives that illuminate the beauty and uniqueness of the Bhagavatam.
In each episode, host Dr. Måns Broo, an esteemed scholar and Gaudiya Vaishnava practitioner, invites expert guests to reflect on a chapter of the Bhagavata Purana. Following a linear progression through the text, the discussions explore the philosophical, theological, and literary dimensions of the Bhagavatam, offering both traditional insights and modern academic interpretations. This thoughtful approach enables listeners to journey through the Bhagavata Purana chapter by chapter, uncovering the intricate teachings of this work.
The Bhagavata Podcast is an initiative supported by the Gaudiya Studies Research Programme of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, furthering the mission of connecting living traditions with academic exploration.
The Bhagavata Podcast
1.14 Why Does Grief Feel Like Love? | Bhagavata Podcast with Jayananda Das
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Arjuna has returned from Dvaraka. One look at his face and Yudhishthira knows. Krishna is gone. What the Bhagavatam does with that knowledge, across Canto 1, Chapter 14, is one of the most carefully constructed passages in the entire text.
Jayananda Das (Dr. Janne Kontala) and host Bhrigupada Dasa examine how the Bhagavatam handles grief among those who have genuinely understood what they have lost. The episode explores the long catalogue of omens that Yudhishthira reads in the days before Arjuna returns, what the Vedic understanding of signs and portents actually involves, and why the Bhagavatam insists that even a perfected practitioner can and should grieve.
The conversation draws out the text's central paradox: that separation from Krishna is not only painful but is, in the Gaudiya Vaishnava understanding, one of the most intensified forms of devotional experience.
The Bhagavata Podcast is produced by the Gaudiya Studies Research Programme at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Each episode brings together scholar-practitioners, trained in both Indology and lived Vaishnava devotion, to read this text closely and seriously.