Making Space for Vedānta: Canon and Commentary in Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism

Author(s): Ravi M. Gupta

Source: International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Apr., 2006), pp. 75-90
Published by: Springer
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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90
DOI 10.1007/sll407-006-9003-7

ORIGINAL PAPER

Making Space for Ved?nta: Canon and Commentary

in Caitanya Vaisnavism

Ravi M. Gupta

Accepted: 10 April 2006/Published online: 5 December 2006

? Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006

Keywords J?va Gosvam? Caitanya Vaisnavism Sandarbha Bh?gavata

Pur?na Brahmas?tra Ved?nta Religious reading Sanskrit commentary

Nearly every theistic school since the time of Samkara has engaged with the
Ved?ntic tradition, a commentary on the Brahmas?tra. Never
usually by writing
theless, Ved?nta found itself on uncertain ground during the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, due largely to the rise of influential devotional movements across North
India. Many of these movements established their influence by deliberately setting
themselves apart from the Ved?ntic pursuits of earlier Vaisnava schools. They saw
the emphasis on Ved?nta as the hallmark of knowledge (j?ana)-oriented systems, in
contrast to their own exclusive absorption in devotion (bhakti).
A good case in point is the R?dh?vallabhi school of Hita Harivamsa, which was
contiguous with the Caitanya tradition both in time (sixteenth century) and location
(Vrnd?vana). Followers of Hita Harivamsa distinguish themselves from other
Vaisnava schools by insisting that they do not subscribe to "any general or particular
philosophical standpoint" (d?rsanika matav?da), nor are they "dependent in every
way on ancient bhakti texts [such as the Bh?gavata Pur?na]" (Gosvami, 1989, p. 57).1
Although love (prema) is the essence of all the Vedas, Hita Harivamsa "declared it to
be beyond all schools of Ved?nta and said that the help of any Ved?ntic school was
unnecessary for its establishment" (Gosvami, 1989, p. 54). The poetry (v?n?) of Hita
Harivamsa is considered the highest means of valid knowledge (pramana)?
The Caitanya Vaisnava tradition of Bengal, on the other hand, found that
some engagement in Ved?ntic discourse was necessary, if only to provide a solid

1
AU translations from Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali sources are my own, unless otherwise indicated.
2
Because the poetry is based on unobstructed, pure experience, it is self-validating, just like the
words of the Vedas, and requires no validation from other books (Gosvami, 1989, p. 57).

R. M. Gupta (S)
Centre College
Danville, KY, USA
e-mail: ravi.gupta@centre.edu

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 76 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90

foundation for the practice of bhakti. The tradition attempted to create a theological
system that held these tensions in balance, engaging inVed?ntic discourse and at the
same time practicing an ecstatic form of devotion to Krsna. The architect of this
balance was the scholar-devotee J?va Gosvam?, who lived in the generation imme
diately following Caitanya (1486-1534), the founder of the school. Through his
commentary on the first four s?tras of the Brahmas?tra, called the catuhsutr? t?ka,
J?va brought his tradition face to face with Ved?ntic discourse, overcoming chal
lenges posed from both within and outside his tradition.
The most important means of overcoming these challenges was through the use of
commentary on the Bh?gavata Pur?na. In this paper we will explore the Bh?gavata
Pur?na's crucial role as theological mediator inCaitanya Vaisnavism, focusing especially
on the ways in which the Pur?na creates space for both philosophical discourse and
exclusive devotion. J?va Gosv?mfs commentary on the first verse of the Bh?gavata
Pur?na is a particularly good example of such mediation, and we will use it as a
springboard for broader reflections on the nature and function of scriptural commentary.

Building bridges with the Bh?gavata Pur?na

Since the time of Samkara, a commentary on the Brahmas?tra has been the most
direct and effective means of entrance into the realm of Ved?ntic discourse. A
samprad?ya's Brahmas?tra commentary functioned as its definitive philosophical
statement, both for its own members and to members of other schools. The com
mentary worked as a polemical tool, procuring for the school a place on the map of
Upanisadic thought. For the followers of Caitanya, however, this standard means of
entrance into Ved?nta was unavailable. Caitanya regarded the Pur?na as the perfect
and natural commentary on the Brahmas?tra, having been written by the author
himself, B?dar?yana Vy?sa, in the maturity of his career.3 In his conversation with
Prak?s?nanda Sarasvat?, samny?sin of Kas?, Caitanya gives evidence for this claim:

[From the Garuda Pur?na'] "This Bh?gavata Pur?na is the meaning of the
Brahmas?tras, and it settles the import of theMah?bh?rata. It is a commentary
on the Gayatr?, and it is furnished with the meanings of the Vedas. Among
Pur?nas, the Bh?gavata is the like the S?ma, and it was spoken directly by
bhagav?n."4 [From the Bh?gavata Pur?na:] "The essense of the essence of all
Vedas and histories is extracted by the Bh?gavata."5.. .Therefore deliberate on
the Bh?gavata. From this, you will obtain the essential meanings of the s?tras
and srutis.6

manmade commentary on the Brahmas?tra, therefore, was deemed

Any subsequent,
redundant, if not unwanted. Thus we find that the samprad?ya did not receive its first

3
"ataeva bh?gavata?sutrera 'artha'-rupa. nija-krta sutrera nija-'bhasya'-svar?pa" (Caitanya
Carit?mrta 2.25.142)
4
"artho 'yam brahma-s?tr?n?m bh?rat?rtha-vinirnayah. g?yatn-bh?sya-r?po 'sau ved?rtha
pur?n?n?m s?ma-r?pah s?ks?d-bhagavatoditah" (attributed to the Garuda Pur?na,
paribrmhitah.
found in Madhva's Bh?gavatat?tparyanirnaya 1.1.1, cited in Caitanya Carit?mrta 2.25.143).
5 in
"sarva-vedetih?s?n?m s?rarn s?ram samuddhrtam" (Bh?gavatat?tparyanirnaya 1.3.41, cited

Caitanya Carit?mrta 2.25.145).

6
"ataeva karaha vic?ra. ih? haite p?be s?tra-srutira artha-s?ra" (Caitanya Carit?mrta
bh?gavata
2.25.153).

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 77

complete commentary on the Brahmas?tra until the time of Baladeva Vidy?bh?sana

at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
What appears as a disadvantage, however, can turn out to be a blessing in disguise,
and this was indeed the case for sixteenth-century Caitanyite Ved?nta. The school's
dependence on the Bh?gavata Pur?na, which caused the restriction on a commentary
in the first place, became the very foundation for its engagement with Ved?nta. The
Bh?gavata Pur?na is seen as a fountainhead of devotional taste or feeling (rasa) and
the topmost scripture because its primary aim is to narrate the activities (l?la) of
Krsna, who is the personification of all rasa (akhila-ras?mrta-m?rti). Therefore, any
intellectual exercise that is based upon the Pur?na and that deepens one's under
standing of the text is considered justified. The Bh?gavata Pur?na thus serves as a
bridge between the worlds of rasa and j?ana, mediating the emotional and intellec
tual, welding together bhakti and Ved?nta, and intertwining devotional narrative with
philosophical speculation. The Bh?gavata Pur?na's rasa-rich narrative of Krsna's l?la
provides a framework within which discussions of a more scholastic nature can be
justifiably pursued. By grounding his Ved?ntic discourse on the Bh?gavata Pur?na,
J?va Gosvam? not only actualized the Pur?na's commentarial role but also secured an
acceptable place for Ved?ntic thought in his tradition.
It can be argued that the role of theological mediator is fundamental to the
Bh?gavata Pur?na, woven into the very fabric of the text. Friedhelm Hardy, for
instance, sees the Pur?na as playing upon a host of religious and social tensions that
were prevelant in South India?the tensions between the northern Sanskrit and
southern Tamil traditions, between orthodox Br?hmanism and P?ncar?tric Vaisna
vism, between monistic and dualistic theologies, and between union and separation
as fundamental principles of human-divine relationships. What ismost noteworthy
for our purposes, however, is the dialectic between the reserved intellectualism of
Ved?nta philosophy and the emotional, ecstatic Krsna bhakti characteristic of the
Bh?gavata Pur?na?
This is the most critical point in the BhP: on the one hand emotional bhakti
represents the typical Tamil heritage in Southern Vaisnavism, while on the
other hand it would appear to be the most difficult complex to reconcile with
Ved?nta ideology, particularly in its advaita form.8.. .It is difficult to imagine
what kind of a person the author could have been, maintaining in himself this
incredible tension between intense emotionalism and monistic and theistic
illusionism. But however incongruous this enormous edifice may appear to us,
it contains stimuli and inspiration which remained operative for the following
thousand years (Hardy, 1983, pp. 497, 541).

7
See, for example, Bh?gavata Pur?na 11.14.24: "v?g gadgad? dravate yasya cittam. rudaty abhiksnam
hasati kvacic ca. vilajja udg?yati nrtyate ca. mad-bhakti-yukto bhuvanam whose
pun?ti" (A devotee
speech is sometimes choked up, whose heart melts, who cries continually and sometimes laughs, who
feels ashamed and cries out loudly and then dances?a devotee thus fixed in loving service to Me
purifies the entire universe" (Prabhup?da's translation).
8
While Hardy believes that the Bh?gavata Pur?na is responding to the extreme illusionism of
Ved?nta, Sheridan disagrees: "[The Bh?gavata does not appear to have been aware
Adyaita Pur?na]
of Sarnkara and his thought nor to have been influenced of the Bh?gavata
by him_The non-dualism
is of the bhedabheda or visist?dvaita type, difference-in-identity or qualified non-dualism" (1994,
p. 54).

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 78 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90

The Bh?gavata Pur?na's remarkable ability to hold together and reconcile Ved?nta
philosophy with devotional emotion is demonstrated already in the opening verses of
the Pur?na. The Bh?gavata Pur?na begins with a meditation on the supreme truth
(satyamparam), describing him in clearly Ved?ntic terms and utilizing standard
Ved?ntic language. The verse is dense and difficult, rather like a string of metrically
arranged s?tras. It employs the long sard?la-vikr?ditam meter, thus hinting at the
poetic nature of the Pur?na.

janm?dy asya yato 'nvay?d karatas c?rthesv abhij?ah sva-r?t

te?e brahma hrd? ya ?di-kavaye muhyanti y at s?rayah
tejo-v?ri-mrd?m yath? vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mrs?
dh?mn? svena sad? nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dh?mahi

Let us meditate on the supreme truth, from whom there is the creation, etc., of
this [universe]?inferred by positive and negative concomitance in things?
who is the all-knower, self-luminous, who revealed the Vedas through the heart
to the first sage, about whom the gods are confused, in whom the threefold
evolution is not false9?like the exchange of fire, water, and earth?and who,
by his own power, is always free from deception.10
The first words of the verse are a quotation from the Brahmas?tra: "janm?dy asya
yatah," and the last word "dh?mahi" suggests the G?yatri. Having made these
connections, the Bh?gavata Pur?na establishes its own significance and superiority in
the second verse.

The highest duty, free from deceit, of good persons who are without envy, is
found here in the Sr?mad Bh?gavata, which was composed by the great sage. The
subject matter to be known here is genuine, and it grants welfare, destroying the
three miseries. What is the use of other books? Those pious people who desire to
hear this Bh?gavata immediately and at once capture the lord in the heart.11

According to Sr?dhara Svam?, the preeminent commentator on the Bh?gavata

Pur?na, this verse shows that the Pur?na expounds the true meaning of all the
scriptures, including the sections dealing with action (karma), knowledge (jn?nd),
and worship (up?san? or devata), and therefore it is superior to them.12 The verse
also states the qualification necessary to hear the Bh?gavata Pur?na: a person must
be krt?, one who has accrued merit.13

9
The phrase tri-sargomrs? is ambiguous, since the sandhi can be resolved as either tri-sargah amrs?
or tri-sargah mrs?, with opposite meanings. Both Sr?dhara Sv?m? and J?va Gosv?m? take the former
reading ("the threefold evolution is not false").
10
Translation based on Sheridan (1994, pp. 51-52).
11
"dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsar?n?m sat?m. vedyam v?stavam otra vastu sivadam

t?pa-trayonm?lanam. sr?mad bh?gavate mah?muni-krte kirn v? parair ?svarah. sadyo hrdy

avarudhyate 'tra krtibhih susr?subhis tatksan?t."
12
"idan?m srotr-pravartan?ya sr?-bhagavatasya k?nda-traya-visayebhyah sarva-s?strebhyah sraisthyam
darsayati_tasm?d atra k?nda-tray?rthasy?pi yath?vat pratip?dan?d idam eva sarva-s?strebhyah
srestham, ato nityam etad eva srotavyam iti bh?vah" (Bh?v?rthadipik? commentary on the Bh?gavata
Pur?na 1.1.2).
13
"idam eva tarhi kirn iti sarve na srnvanti tatr?ha?krtibhir iti. sravanecch? tu punyair vin? notpa

dyata ity arthah."

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 79

After placing itself firmly within the Ved?ntic tradition and establishing itself as
the best transmitter of that tradition, the Bh?gavata Pur?na immediately switches to
a different concern?the of rasa.
tasting

The ripe fruit of the desire tree of the Vedas contains the nectarean juice
from the mouth of Suka. O knowers of rasa (rasika) and people of taste
(bh?vuka) in the world! Drink again and again this reservoir of rasa?the
Bh?gavata.14

The phrase "nigama-kalpa-taror phalam" (the fruit of the Vedic desire tree) con
nects this verse with the first two. Not only does the Bh?gavata Pur?na possess the
meanings of the Vedas and Ved?nta, it is the anticipated reward of the tradition. A
tree's growth culminates in the arrival of its fruit; the study of Veda and Ved?nta
finds perfection in drinking the rasa of the Bh?gavata Pur?na. This drive from
Ved?nta to rasa is, in fact, a characteristic of the Caitanyite engagement inVed?nta.
By addressing the verse to rasikas and bh?vukas, the Bh?gavata Pur?na identifies
them as the proper recipients of the Vedic fruit and thus makes them the best of
Ved?ntins.
The Bh?gavata Pur?na thus becomes the foundation for Ved?ntic discourse in
Caitanya Vaisnavism, both by justifying Ved?nta in the eyes of the tradition and by
justifying the tradition to Ved?ntins of other schools. Like a two-way bridge, the
Pur?na brings Caitanya Vaisnavas into conversation with the world of Ved?nta and
also brings the concerns of Ved?nta into Caitanya Vaisnavism.

The Bh?gavata Pur?na as a Ved?ntic text

Given the Bh?gavata Pur?na's singular role in Caitanya Vaisnavism, it is no surprise

that J?va Gosvam? places the Pur?na at the heart of his Ved?ntic commentary. In his
philosophical treatise, Param?tmasandarbha,15 J?va offers the beginnings of a
Bh?gavata-based commentary on the Brahmas?tra by commenting on the first four
s?tras using the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na.
Commenting upon the beginning portion of a text in lieu of a full commentary is a
fairly common shortcut method. In any Brahmas?tra commentary, the explanation
of the first four s?tras, the catuhsutr? ttk?, is considered the most crucial part of the
commentary. The first four s?tras are rich in suggestive power and broad in
scope?in a total of ten words, they discuss the nature of ultimate reality, the origin
of creation, the means of acquiring knowledge about ultimate reality, the qualifi
cations of a person seeking that knowledge, and the proper method of scriptural
interpretation. As one would expect, commentaries on these s?tras are detailed and
demanding. They serve as concise yet statements of their schools'
complete philoso
phical standpoints and can often be read independently of the rest of the text. So

14
"nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam. suka-mukh?d amrta-drava-samyutam. pibata bhagavatam
rasam ?layam. muhur aho rasik? bhuvi bh?vuk?h."
15
Param?tmasandarbha is the third part of a much larger work called Bh?gavatasandarbha or
Satsandarbha. The word "sandarbha" literally means "weaving" or "arranging"; the Bh?
gavatasandarbha is thematic arrangement of the Bh?gavata Pur?na, woven with the intention of
systematically and comprehensively expounding Caitanya Vaisnava doctrine and practice. The text is
complete in six volumes, called Tattva-, Bhagavat-, Param?tma-, Krsna-, Bhakti-, and Pr?ti-sandar
bhas. The first three are especially rich in philosophical and the third engages
content, directly with
the standard issues of relevance to Ved?nta.

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80 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90

also with commentaries on the Bh?gavata Pur?na, the explanation of the first few
verses are by far the most extensive and involved. For example, the sixteenth
century Advaitin, Madhus?dana Sarasvat?, wrote a commentary on only the first
verse called "Sr?mad Bh?gavata Prathama Sloka Vy?khy?."
J?va Gosvam? is certainly not the first commentator to notice connections between
the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na and the Brahmas?tra. As early as the thir
teenth century, Madhv?c?rya quotes a verse from the Garuda Pur?na ascribing the
meaning of the Brahmas?tra to the Bh?gavata Pur?na:

This [Bh?gavata Pur?na] is the meaning of the Brahmas?tras and determines

the meaning of the [Mah?jbh?rata. It is a commentary on the G?yatri, and it is
reinforced by the meaning of the Veda. It is the essence of the Pur?nas, and it
is directly spoken by bhagav?n. It has twelve books, one hundred chapters,
thousand verses, and the name "Sr?mad
eighteen Bh?gavatam."16

J?va quotes these same verses in his Tattvasandarbha and mentions the phrase "artho
'yam brahma-s?tr?n?m" at the beginning of his catuhsutr? t?ka, in order to highlight
the reasonableness of his endeavor.17 Next, in the fourteenth century, Sr?dhara
Svam? quotes Brahmas?tra 1.1.5 in his explanation of the word "abhij?ah" in the
first verse:

So, then, is the material aggregate (pradh?na) intended as the object of medi
tation [in this verse], since it is the cause of the world? That is ruled out.
Abhij?a [the knowing one]?on him [we meditate]. Because of the scriptural
passage, "He thought, 'Let me now create the worlds.' He created these

worlds." And also because of the rule, "iksater n?sabdam."18

There are other ways of explaining "abhij?a"?as simply "skillful" or "clever," for
example. But here, Sr?dhara understands the word "abhij?a" as fulfilling the same
purpose in the first verse as "iksater n?satbdam" does in the Brahmas?tra: it denies
the possibility of an insentient creator. This is a distinctly Ved?ntic concern, and to
ascribe such intentionality to the Bh?gavata Pur?na is nothing short of regarding it
as a self-consciously Ved?ntic text.19

Indeed, one can hardly avoid making connections with the Brahmas?tra, given the
language of the first verse. Phrases such as "janm?dy asya yatah" "anvay?d itaratas
ca," 'mrs?," and "satyam pararn" have obvious Ved?ntic connotations and
"trisargo

16
"artho 'yam brahma-s?tr?n?m bh?rat?rtha-vinirnayah. g?yatr?-bhasya-r?po 'sau ved?rtha

paribrmhitah. pur?n?n?m s?ra-r?pah s?ks?d bhagavatoditah. dv?dasa-skandha-yukto 'yam sata-vicche

da-samyutah. granthost?dasa-s?hasrah sr?mad bh?gavat?bhidah" (Bh?gavatat?tparyanirnaya 1.1.1).
17 the meaning, "It is
J?va Gosv?m?, however, reads "s?ma-r?pah" instead of iis?ra-r?pah,'n giving
the Sama Veda among Pur?nas."
18
"tarhi kirn pradh?nam jagat-k?ranatv?d dhyeyam abhipretam nety?ha. abhij?o yas tarn, 'sa ?ksata
lok?n nu srj? iti. sa im?ml lok?n asrjata' iti sruteh. '?ksater n?sabdam' iti ny?y?c ca" (Bh?v?rthadXpik?

1.1.1).
19 in his commentary on the first
Madhus?dana Sarasvat? makes extensive use of the Brahmas?tra
verse. He was probably a junior contemporary of J?va Gosv?m?, however, and so his influence on J?va
is unlikely.

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 81

provide a mine of possibilities for any commentator.20 It seems, however, that J?va
Gosv?m? was the first to fully capitalize on these interpretive opportunities in his
Param?tmasandarbha and, to a lesser degree, the Kramasandarbha (his running

commentary on the Bh?gavata Pur?na). J?va draws a word-for-word correlation

between the first verse of the Bh?gavata and the first five s?tras of the Brahmas?tra,
sparing no pains to substantiate his theses with profuse argumentation and quota
tions from the Upanisads.
Let us take a quick look at J?va Gosv?mfs system of connections with the
Brahmas?tra, in order to gain an overall understanding of the structure of his
commentary. In Table 1, the right-hand column lists words or phrases from the first
verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na, while the left-hand column gives the words from the
Brahmas?tras which are explained by them.

Table 1 Correlation between the first five s?tras of the Brahmas?tra and the first verse of the
Bh?gavata Pur?na

Brahmas?tras First verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

ath?tah satyam
brahma param
Brahman's svar?pa-laksana dh?mn? svena sad? nirasta-kuhakam
Brahman's tatastha-laksana janm?dy asya yatah
jijn?s? dh?mahi
janm?dy asya yatah janm?dy asya yatah
s?stra-yonitv?t anvay?d karatas c?rthesu
s?strayonitv?t (Samkara's second te?e brahma hrd? ya ?di-kavaye
interpretation)
tat tu samanvay?t anvay?d karatas c?rthesu
tat tu samanvay?t (Madhva's interpretation) muhyanti yat s?rayah
iksater n?sabdam abhij?ah svar?t
iksater n?sabdam (Madhva's interpretation) abhij?ah svar?t

As one would expect from a Ved?ntic commentator, J?va Gosv?m? supports his
arguments mainly with quotations from the Upanisads. Several of these quoted
passages are the visaya-v?kyas (statements under consideration) for the s?tras listed
above. For a listing of the Upanisadic passages that J?va correlates with the first
verse, see Table 2 in the Appendix.
Besides the Ved?ntic connections, another correlation that proves irresistible to
commentators is with the Gayatr? mantra (hymn 3.62.10 of Rg Veda). The word
"dh?mahi" at the very end of the first verse is a clear indication to most writers that
the Bh?gavata Pur?na intends to explain the meaning of the Gayatr?. After all, they
reason, is not the proper classical form for the first person plural optative
"dhy?yema"! Furthermore, the Pur?na also ends with "dh?mahi," signifying that the
entire text was expounding on the Gayatr?.21

It is, of course,not necessary that one makes connections with Ved?nta, despite the ample
opportunity. See,for example, the Caitanyamatamanjus?, a commentary on the Bh?gavata Pur?na
by Sr?natha Cakravart?, J?va Gosv?m?'s contemporary from Bengal. Srm?tha reads the first verse
solely in terms of Krsna's qualities and activities, with no mention of any Ved?ntic issue.
21
See Bh?gavata Pur?na 12.13.19, which J?va regards as the upasamh?ra, or concluding statement, of
the Pur?na.

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82 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90

As we saw above, the verses quoted by Madhva from the Garuda Pur?na include
the Gayatr? as one of the texts elucidated by the Bh?gavata Pur?na. Sr?dhara Svam?
quotes verses from two other Pur?nas in this regard:

"Dh?mahi"?by beginning with the Gayatr?, it is shown that this Pur?na con
sists of that Brahman-knowledge called Gayatr?. As it is said in the Matsya
Pur?na within a discussion of donating the Pur?na, "That text which is based
on the Gayatr?, which describes all the details of dharma, and which has [the
story of] the killing of Vrtr?sura is called the Bh?gavata."22.. .And in another
Pur?na, "That book which has eighteenth thousand verses and twelve books,
where the Brahman knowledge of Hayagr?va and the killing of Vrtra are
described and which begins with the Gayatr??the wise know it as the
Bh?gavata."23

Sr?dhara also says that the line "tene brahma hrd? ya ?di-kavaye" (he revealed the
Veda to the first sage through the heart) elucidates the meaning of the Gayatr?.24
The Gayatr? is a prayer asking the lord to inspire the intelligence, says Sr?dhara, and
the first being to be thus inspired was Brahma. Since he received the four-verse
Bh?gavata Pur?na at the beginning of creation, the Bh?gavata can be considered a
form of the Gayatr?.
J?va Gosv?m? follows Sr?dhara Svam? closely in the Param?tmasandarbha,
repeating all of his quotations from other Pur?nas. In particular, he seizes the phrase
"yatr?dhikrtya gayatr?m" (that text which is based on the Gayatr?) and attempts to
show that both the Gayatr? and the Bh?gavata Pur?na have bhagav?n as their pri
mary subject matter. The Gayatr? is therefore the root text, he argues, from which
the Bh?gavata Pur?na arises and upon which it comments. J?va quotes a series of
verses from the Agni Pur?na that explains the Gayatr? word by word. He then
correlates each word in the Gayatr? with the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na
(Appendix, Table 3).
By no means, however, does this exhaust the possibilities of finding meaning in
the first verse. J?va Gosv?m? also uses the verse as a locus for discussion on standard
issues of concern in Ved?ntic discourse, with special regard to areas of contention
with Advaita Ved?nta (Appendix, Table 4). He connects the first verse with all four
chapters of the Brahmas?tra and even the ten topics addressed by a major Pur?na
(Appendix, Tables 5,6).25 J?va spends little time explaining these larger correlations.

22 Pur?na to which J?va

The phrase gayatr?m" is also found in the Agni (272.6),
"yatr?dhikrtya
Gosv?m? credits the verse when he quotes it in the Param?tmasandarbha (105).
23 ca g?yatry-?khya-brahma-vidy?-r?pam etat pur?nam iti
"dh?mah?ti g?yatry? pr?rambhena
darsitam. 'yatr?dhikrtya gayatr?m varnyate dharma
yathoktam matsya-pur?ne pur?na-d?na-prast?ve
vistarah. tad bh?gavatam .pur?n?ntare ca 'granthost?dasa-s?hasro
vrtr?sura-vadhopetam isyate...
dv?dasa-skandha-sammitah. yatra vrtra-vadhas tath?. g?yatry? ca
hayagr?va-brahma-vidya
sam?rambhas tad vai bh?gavatam viduh" 1.1.1). J?va Gosv?m? reads "vadhotsik
(Bhav?rthadXpik?
tarn" (drenched with the killing of Vrtra) in place of "vadhopetam."
24
"for tu hrd? manasaiva te?e vistrtav?n. anena buddhi-vrtti-pravartakatvena g?yatry-artho
darsitah."
25 Pur?na. The usual number of characteristics
These are listed in the second book of the Bh?gavata
ascribed to a Pur?na is five. For a study of the five characteristics as they are found in the major

Pur?nas, see Willibald (1927).

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 83

The point is not somuch that the first verse explains these in full but that the "seeds"
or hints of them are present there.

Commentary as religious reading

Clearly, J?va Gosv?m? takes great delight in drawing a world of meaning from a
single verse and then arranging those meanings into a systematic theology of
Caitanya Vaisnavism. Such delight and fearless exegesis arise from a deep conviction
in the inherent value and profundity of his text, the Bh?gavata Pur?na. Indeed, such
conviction is the defining characteristic of a religious reader and commentator. Paul
Griffiths describes this well in his Religious Reading:

The first and most basic element in these relations [between religious readers
and their works] is that the work read is understood as a stable and vastly rich
resource, one that yields meaning, suggestions (or imperatives) for action,
matter for aesthetic wonder, and much else. It is a treasure-house, an ocean, a

mine: the deeper religious readers dig, the more ardently they fish, the more
single-mindedly they seek gold, the greater will be their reward?There can,
according to these metaphors, be no final act of reading in which everything is
uncovered, inwhich the mine of gold has yielded all its treasure or the fish pool
has been emptied of fish. Reading, for religious readers, ends only with death,
and perhaps not then: it is a continuous, ever-repeated act (1999, p. 41).

For religious readers, the variety and depth of meaning in a sacred text is limited
only by the limitations of the human intellect. Thus, we find Sr?dhara Svam?
reflecting before beginning his commentary on the Bh?gavata Pur?na: "Where am I,
so slowwitted? And where is this task of churning the ocean of milk? Indeed, what
will an atom do where even Mount Mandara sinks?"26 Nevertheless, Sr?dhara dives
into the ocean, confident that the lord will support his endeavor, even as he sup
ported the Mandara Mountain.
Just as it is the nature of religious readers to continuously draw fresh insights from
what they read, so it is the work of the commentator tomake this possible. The act of
commentary is one kind of religious reading, wherein the commentator aids other
readers in extending and deepening their involvement with the text. We may recall
Jonathan Smith's oft-quoted statement: "Where there is a canon we can predict the
necessary occurrence of a hermeneute, of an interpreter whose task it is to continu
ally extend the domain of the closed canon over everything that is known or
everything that is" (1978, p. 23). We have already seen this at work in our situation.
The Bh?gavata Pur?na is the most important member of the Caitanya Vaisnava
canon, and the first verse is one of its essentials components. Thus, we find that J?va
Gosv?m?, the chief interpreter of his time, extends the domain of the first verse over

"kv?ham manda-matih kvedam manthanam ksira-v?ri-dheh. kirn tatra param?nur vai yatra majjati
mandarah" (Bh?v?rthadXpik? 1.1.1). Sr?dhara Svam? is referring to the churning of the ocean of milk
carried out cooperatively by the gods and demons for the purpose of extracting the elixir of
immortality. The Mandara Mountain was to serve as a churning rod, but it kept sinking into the
ocean's unfathomable depths. Visnu then descended as the tortoise and held up the
(K?rma)
mountain on his back.

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 84 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90

the entire range of sacred Sanskrit literature?the Brahmas?tra, Upanisads, Gayatr?,

Pur?nas, Mah?bh?rata, and, finally, the Vedas. Each word of the first verse becomes
the repository of a whole body of texts, concepts, discussions, and debates. Indeed,
the conviction that one's canon is "comprehensive and all-encompassing, that it
contains all significant learning and truth," is, according to John Henderson, "the
most universal and widely expressed commentarial assumption regarding the char
acter of almost any canon" (1991, p. 89).27
Furthermore, this "vision of cosmic comprehensiveness, or of totality and
wholeness," says Henderson, is not "simply an illusion that strikes only the eye of
the committed or faithful beholder or the confirmed exegete. For, as a general rule,
the works that are selected for canonization in various traditions do have a wide
scope and, in some cases, an almost encyclopedic character" (1991, pp. 89-90). The
Brahmas?tras, for example, in their terse and obscure cover?or at least make
style,
room to discuss?the entire range of Upanisadic teachings, a wide variety of
Ved?ntic doctrines, and numerous opposing viewpoints. In the same vein, the first
verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na covers as much ground as is possible for a single
verse. The meter is the nineteen-syllabled sard?la-vikr?ditam, the individual phrases
in each line are terse and difficult like s?tras, and the overall meaning ranges from
creation to revelation to meditation.

Still, what is interesting in the case of commentaries on both the Brahmas?tra and
the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na, and what Henderson fails to note, is the
attempt to find comprehensiveness and all-inclusiveness in as small a space as pos
sible. The desire to boil everything down to itsmost concentrated form, to distill the
very essence, is a typically Hindu commentarial drive. Thus, we find innumerable
"four-verse" groups that are purported to contain and convey the meaning of the
entire text: the four-verse Bh?gavata Pur?na, the four-verse Bhagavad G?ta, the
?ouT-s?tra Brahmas?tra, and so on. Furthermore, as a general of it
principle exegesis,
is often said that one should be able to find the meaning of the entire work in its first
verse.28 J?va Gosv?m? follows this principle in correlating the ten characteristics of
the Bh?gavata Pur?na with its first verse. Similarly, he finds all four chapters of the
Brahmas?tra present in the first verse, even though he has already used it to com
ment upon the first five s?tras.
This attempt to correlate the large and small, the macro and the micro, is not so
much about explaining the text as it is about showing its universal applicability.
As we noted above, J?va Gosv?m? offers very little explanation of his choice of
connections with the Gayatr?, the ten topics of a Pur?na, or the chapters of the
Brahmas?tra. He is happy simply to note that all of these are somehow latent in
the Bh?gavata Pur?na's first verse. Nor do these connections further elucidate the
meaning of the verse itself; that was done exhaustively earlier in the passage, when
J?va commented upon the five s?tras. The purpose of their presence, rather, is to

27
Henderson identifies two other widely held commentarial assumptions regarding the character of
canons,
namely, that they are well ordered and coherent (1991, p. 106) and they are self-consistent
or rather theses requiring
(p. 115). Both of these are, of course, extremely important assumptions,
demonstration, for Ved?ntic commentators.
28
For example, Govindar?ja, in his commentary on the V?lmiki R?m?yana, elicits the entire story of
the R?m?yana from V?lm?ki's curse on the hunter who killed one of a pair of cranes. This curse took
the form of a single verse in anustubh meter and provided V?lmiki with the poetical inspiration to
compose the R?m?yana in the same meter.

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 Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 85

show that the Bh?gavata Pur?na is applicable beyond the range of its immediate
meaning, to all areas of scriptural learning. Indeed, Griffiths identifies application as
one of the most common purposes of commentary, wherein the commentator is
interested "to offer suggestions or recommendations as to how the work commented
upon might be used, applied, or deployed" (1999, p. 90).29
Even here, however, things are not as simple as they seem. By the time one
reaches J?va Gosv?mfs catuhs?tr? tik? at the end of the Param?tmasandarbha, one
wonders what is being applied to what?whether the Bh?gavata Pur?na's first verse
is commenting upon the Brahmas?tras, Upanisads, and Gayatr? or the other way
around. Although we know from Caitanyite theology that the Bh?gavata Pur?na is
considered a commentary on the Brahmas?tra, it is also apparent that the catuhs?tr?
ttk? is explaining the meaning of the Bh?gavata Pur?na in Ved?ntic terms. So is the
Bh?gavata Pur?na elucidating the meaning of the Brahmas?tra, or is the
Brahmas?tra explaining the Bh?gavata Pur?nal Which is the commentary, and
which is the root text (m?lagrantha)!
Indeed, at this point in the history of Sanskrit literature, the answer is not so clear.
Beyond the Bh?gavata Pur?na, the Itih?sas and Pur?nas in general have been
regarded as clarifying, expanding, and supporting the meaning of the earlier
literature?Vedas, Upanisads, and Ved?nta. Indeed, the smrti literature sees itself in
that role. We saw the phrase "ved?rtha-paribrmhitam" (reinforced by [or furnished
with] the meaning of the Veda) in the verses from the Garuda Pur?na cited by
Madhva. There is also the traditional half-verse found in the Mah?bh?rata: "itih?sa
pur?n?bhy?m vedam samupabpnhayet" (One should reinforce the Veda with the
Itih?sa and Pur?na). Govindar?ja, a Srivaisnava commentator on the V?lmiki
R?m?yana, states at the beginning of his commentary:
This work reinforces the Veda and reinforces the meaning of the Ved?nta, for
there is the statement, "As a general rule, the Dharmas?stra relates the
meaning of the previous part [that is, the P?rva M?mamsa], and the Itih?sa and
Pur?na reveal the meaning of the Ved?nta."30

By the late medieval period, however, the balance of power in the sruti-smrti
relationship had begun to shift, so that the Pur?nas were now "reinforcing" or
"supporting" the Vedas in the sense of holding them up or bearing their weight.
Christopher Minkowski, in his study of N?lakantha Caturdhara's works, has called
this phenomenon an "inversion of the principle of upabrmhana" (2002, p. 18).
N?lakantha, the seventeenth-century author of the Bh?ratabh?vadxpa commentary
on the Mah?bh?rata, wrote several works in the genre called mantrarahasya
prak?sa, in which he attempted to show how the storyline of a particular Pur?na
could be found in the verses of the Rg Veda. Examples include the Mantra
k?sikhanda (eliciting the Skanda Pur?na's glorification of Kas? from the Rg Veda),
the Montrabh?gavata (eliciting the story of Krsna from the Rg Veda), and the

29
However, Griffiths describes application only in terms of exhortation or recommendation
?applying the text to human activity. He does not account for instances such as ours, where the text
is applied to areas of learning rather than activity.
30
"ayam caprabandho vedopabrmhana-r?po ved?nt?rtham upabrmhayati. 'pr?yena p?rva-bh?g?rtho
dharma-s?strena kathyate. itih?sa-pur?n?bhy?m ved?nt?rthah prak?sayaf iti vacan?t" (Bh?sana
commentary on R?m?yana 1.5.1).

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Mantrar?m?yana (eliciting the story of R?ma from the Rg Veda). Although at first
glance it seems as though N?lakantha is simply strengthening the authority of
Pur?nic narratives by grounding them in the Veda, in reality, Minkowski argues, the
exact opposite is taking place.31 The reversal is especially true in the case of the
Bh?gavata Pur?na.

But we have come far afield from using a Pur?nic story to explain an elliptical
Rgvedic one. It rather appears to be the reverse?the Rgvedic verse explains a
Pur?nic story?Pur?nic episode y becomes the foundation for Vedic verse x,
its bolster and the justification for its reading. This is not amplification of the
Vedas, but support of them in a different sense. In the historically changed
context, it is the Bh?gavata Pur?na, which had grown so influential in N?la
kantha's era, that can bolster the Vedas, and not the other way around
(Minkowski, 2002, pp. 18-19).
In fact, the Bh?gavata Pur?na had achieved precedence much before Nflakantha's
time, owing to the influence of Caitanya's and Vallabha's movements. Indeed, J?va
Gosv?m? is a pacesetter and early protagonist of this sruti-smrti reversal process.
By establishing the Bh?gavata Pur?na as the scripture par excellence in the
Tattvasandarbha, and using the Pur?na as the sole basis of his entire system, J?va
effectively subordinates all scriptural knowledge to the Bh?gavata Pur?na. Thus, by
the time we reach the end of the Param?tmasandarbha we are in the interesting
situation mentioned above: the Brahmas?tra is being used to explain the first
verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na, which is itself meant to be a commentary on the
Brahmas?tra. Or, to put it another way, we have a on
Bh?gavata-based commentary
the Brahmas?tra in the middle of a passage that is meant to be explaining the
Bh?gavata Pur?na.
close dialogue between
This the Ved?ntic and Pur?nic traditions is one of the
outstanding achievements of J?va Gosv?m?. As Minkowski writes in regard to the
mantrarahasya texts, "Nflakantha's innovation lies not in newness of technique or of
knowledge, but in the way existing techniques and knowledges are taken together,
across what we would today call 'disciplinary boundaries,' in the service of a new
purpose" (N.d., p. 25). Much the same can be said of J?va and his Satsandarbha. As
a theologian writing earlier than N?lakantha, J?va was situated on the cusp between
a solid and time-tested heritage of Sanskrit Ved?ntic exegesis and a fresh yet
powerful tide of bhakti to Krsna, much of which was being expressed in vernacular
languages. With training in, and commitments to, both traditions, J?va Gosv?m? was
able to tie them together by employing yet a third stream of theological writ
ing?the Pur?nic commentarial tradition, or, more specifically, commentary on the
Bh?gavata Pur?na.

31 a careful
Minkowski reaches this conclusion after analysis of N?lakantha Caturdhara's
(2002)
commentary on the Harivamsa and his various mantrarahasya texts.

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 87

Appendix

The following are additional examples of correlations that J?va Gosv?m? draws with
the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na.

Table 2 Correlation between various Upanisadic passages and the first verse of the Bh?gavata
Pur?na

Upanisadic passages (in order of appearance in First verse of the Bh?gavata Purana
the catuhs?tr? t?ka)

Ch?ndogya (8.1.6): tadyatheha karma-jito lokah satyam

ks?yate (on the temporariness of the fruits of
karma)
Svet?svatara (5.9): sa c?nanty?ya kalpate (on satyam
the permanence of knowledge of Brahman)
Mundaka (3.1.3): nira?janah paramam s?myam satyam
upaiti
Taittir?ya (2.1.2): satyam jn?nam anantam satyam, and dh?mn? svena sad? nirasta
brahma kuhakam
Brhad?ranyaka (3.9.28): vijn?nam ?nandam dh?mn? svena sad? nirasta-kuhakam
brahma
Taittir?ya (3.1.1): y ato v? im?ni bh?t?ni joyante janm?dy asya yatah, and trisargo 'mrs?
Ch?ndogya (6.3.4, 6.4.1 [tripartition]): im?s tejo-v?ri-mrd?m yath? vinimayah
tisro devat?s ekaik? bhavati
Brhad?ranyaka (2.1.20): satyasya satyam iti trisargo 'mrs?
Ch?ndogya (6.2.3): tat tejosrjata janm?dy asya yatah
Mundaka (1.1.9): yah sarvaj?ah sarvavid janm?dy asya yatah
Brhad?ranyaka (4.4.22): sarvasya vas? janm?dy asya yatah
Svet?svatara (6.8): na tasya k?ryam karanam ca janm?dy asya yatah, and svar?t
Svet?svatara (9.9): sa k?ranam janm?dy asya yatah
Taittir?ya (2.1.2, 3.6.1, 2.1.3), Ch?ndogya (6.2.1, anvay?t
6.8.7, 6.2.3), Brhad?ranyaka (1.4.10, 1.4.1)?
all catophatic statements describing
Brahman in positive ways
Ch?ndogya (6.2.2), Taittir?ya (2.7.1)?apophatic itaratah (vyatirek?t)
Statements
Ch?ndogya (6.2.1-3): tad aiksata bahu sy?m abhij?ah
praj?yeya
sa aiksata
Aitareya (1.1.1-2): abhij?ah
Brhad?ranyaka (2.4.10): evam v? aresya mahato te?e brahma hrd? ya ?dikavaye
bh?tasya nisvasitam (the Vedas and other
scriptures are the breath of the great being)
Svet?svatara (6.1.8): yo brahm?nam vidadh?ti te?e brahma hrd? ya ?dikavaye
p?rvam
Svet?svatara (3.19): sa vetti visvam nahi tasya muhyanti yat s?rayah
vetti

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Table 3 Correlation between the G?yatn mantra and the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

Gayatr? First verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

om janm?dy asya yatah

bh?r bhuvah svah tat yatra trisargo 'mrs?
savitr svar?t
varenyam bhargah param
dh?mahi dh?mahi
dhiyo y o nah pracoday?t te?e brahma hrd? yah

Table 4 Ved?ntic discussions elicited from the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

Ved?ntic discussions First verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

refutation of Advaita?theory of super tejo-v?ri-mrd?m yath? vinimayo yatra trisargo

imposition (adhy?sa or ?ropa) and the falsity 'mrs?, and janm?dy asya yatah
of the creation
refutation of Advaita?doctrine of one soul dh?mahi
(eka-j?va-vada) and the doctrine of illusion
(vivarta-v?da)
karma-jn?na-samuccaya (the necessity of pro satyam
ficiency in karma for knowledge of Brahman)
Brahman possesses essential energies (sakti) dh?mn? svena, and svar?t
bhagav?n's personal or internal energy dh?mn? svena

(svar?pa or antarang? sakti)

the external or deluding energy (bahirahg? kuhakam
or m?y? sakti)
the living entities (tatasth? or j?va sakti) dh?mahi
Brahman's saktis and qualities are non-material sad? nirasta-kuhakam
tripartition of the elements (trivrt-karana) tejo-v?ri-mrd?m yath? vinimayah
Brahman has a non-material form svar?t, and janm?dy asya yatah
bhagav?n is the highest human goal (parama dh?mahi
purus?rtha)

Table 5 Correlation between the chapters of the Brahmas?tra and the first verse of the Bh?gavata
Pur?na

of the Brahmas?tra First verse of the Bh?gavata Purana

Chapters

anvay?d itaratas ca
Samanvay?dhy?ya
Avirodh?dhy?ya muhyanti yat s?rayah
S?dhan?dhy?ya dh?mahi
Phal?dhy?ya satyam param

32 a
R?dh?mohana Tarkav?caspati, a Gaud?ya commentator from the eighteenth century, gives
different in his commentary
schema on the first verse. The correlations are as follows: savituh

asya yatah; varenyam-param; bhargah-satyam; devasya-svar?t; dh?mahi-dh?mahi\ and dhiyo

janm?dy
y o nah pracoday?t-tene brahma hrd? y a ?dikavaye (Joshi, 1964, p. 387).

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Hindu Studies (2006) 10:75-90 89

Table 6 Characteristics of a Purana embedded within the first verse of the Bh?gavata Pur?na

Ten characteristics of a Pur?na First verse of the Bh?gavata Purana

creation, secondary creation, maintenance, and janm?dy asya yatah

destruction (sarga, visarga, sth?na, and
nirodha). The reigns of the Manus
(manvantara) and the activities of the lord
(?sanukatha) are included in maintenance.
nourishment (posana) tene brahma hrd? ya ?di-kavaye
impetus (oft") muhyanti yat s?rayah
liberation (mukti) dh?mn? svena sad? nirasta-kuhakam
shelter (?sraya) satyam param

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