Bhagavatapurana

It is now half a century since JL Austin published his seminal work, How to do Things with Words, in which he first articulated his theory of speech acts. Since then, his core idea that verbal utterances convey more that what is simply implied by the words alone has become axiomatic. In this paper, I will describe the use of Sanskrit verses in an oral tradition known in Hindi as a Bhāgavat-kathā (‘Divine narrative’ or ‘Stories about God’), as practiced by teachers in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.  Verses drawn from the important Hindu text, the Bhāgavatapurāṇa, form a key component of these events, yet few if any in the audience are able to understand them directly.  As part of an ongoing inquiry into power and authority within a Hindu episteme, I use speech act theory to explore the function of these verses. Bhāgavata performances are compared with Qur’anic recitation in the Comoros and the recitation of certain Buddhist texts in Mustang, Nepal. I argue that Sanskrit verses in this event have what Austin terms ‘perlocutionary’ significance: that is, they have a meaning and a function other than that conveyed by the words alone. They enable the exponent to demonstrate publicly his status, to establish his authority and prove his direct access to the text. The use of Sanskrit verses validates the oral discourse by tying it directly back to the authority of the original source text.

This is a part-summary of the Master of Arts Thesis investigation into the antiquity of the Srîmad-Bhâgavatam also referred to as Bhâgavata-Purâna within the classic literature of India. The work uses the scientific method to evaluate competing paradigms to establish that both the Srîmad-Bhâgavatam and its concept of the four ages comes from a time previous to the Ice Age, when it is believed that man migrated from Asia to the Americas.

It is now half a century since JL Austin published his seminal work, How to do Things with Words, in which he first articulated his theory of speech acts. Since then, his core idea that verbal utterances convey more that what is simply implied by the words alone has become axiomatic. In this paper, I will describe the use of Sanskrit verses in an oral tradition known in Hindi as a Bhāgavat-kathā (‘Divine narrative’ or ‘Stories about God’), as practiced by teachers in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. Verses drawn from the important Hindu text, the Bhāgavatapurāṇa, form a key component of these events, yet few if any in the audience are able to understand them directly. As part of an ongoing inquiry into power and authority within a Hindu episteme, I use speech act theory to explore the function of these verses. Bhāgavata performances are compared with Qur’anic recitation in the Comoros and the recitation of ce...

"Tutto per Krishna e niente per me". Giriraja Swami: Dopo aver ascoltato tante lamentele da così tanti devoti, Srila Prabhupada ha convocato un incontro fra tutti i devoti. Praticamente, tutti i devoti del tempio sono entrati nella stanza di Srila Prabhupada, e lui ha ascoltato con molta simpatia tutto quello che ogni devoto aveva da dire, ed era veramente preoccupato e voleva migliorare le cose. Ad un certo punto il GBC per l'India protestò: "Srila Prabhupada, la mia unica intenzione era quella di eseguire la volontà di Vostra Divina Grazia". E Prabhupada replicò un po' sarcasticamente: "È volontà della Mia Divina Grazia che i devoti debbano essere disturbati?". Usò uno stratagemma.