Vaisnava Tilakas: Sectarian Marks Worn By Worshippers of Visnu

by A.W. Entwistle; Edited By R.D. Paliwal And Dr B.B. Chaturvedi

English 144 (Color 56)Foreword Where is the Lie we have lost in living ?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge ?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information ?The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuriesBring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.The mood of disillusion and despair characterized by these lines from T.S. Eliot's Choruses from the Rock' may narrate a tale which seems true in the context of the attitude of the modern world to all things spiritual. Engrossed in gross materialism, man tends to forget that 'Visible and invisible, two worlds meet in Man;/Visible and 'Visible and invisible must meet in His Temple.' But once you enter the precincts of Vrindavan, you will notice that here is a quiet town, alive and full of excitement, celebrating in numerous ways the memory of the eventful life of Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, whose advice to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra, contained in the Gita remains the most valuable document in its approach to the struggle that human life symbolizes. In this town, it is a familiar sight to see devotees and pilgrims from all over the globe, lost in the trance of Krishna's adventures with Radha and the Gopis. You can identify these enthusiastic believers at first glance from the Tilakas that adorn their forehead. The Tilakas are not mere marks of sandalwood paste used for the purpose of decoration; they are, in fact, symbols of spiritual and cultural tradition handed down as a rich legacy from one generation to the next.A. W. Entwistle's invaluable document Vaishnava Sactarian Marks Worn By Worshippers of Vishnu is indeed a laudable attempt to lend exquisite charm and grace to this simplistic

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Published January 1, 2003