I am interested in Chaitanya Vaishnavism. This site is inspired by the teachings of Sri Satyanarayana dasa Babaji, scholar and practitioner.
In Anuccheda 96 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva Goswami analyzes seven verses spoken by Bhagavān to Brahmā. Four of these seven verses constitute the famous catuḥśloki or four seed-verses of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. The word ‘seed’ here means that these verses constitute the essence of the Śrīmad […]
A book should begin by explaining the following four topics: Sambandha: the relation (sambandha) of the book (vācaka) with its main subject (vācya). Abhidheya: the means of attainment propounded in the book. Prayojana: the completion state or end state brought about by the means stated in point 2. […]
The Advaitavādis reject the notion that the absolute truth has energies. As such, for them the material world does not exist, because the absolute truth, or Brahman is completely devoid of energies required for acting, for cognition and for experience. Śrī Jīva Goswami presents a logical argument derived […]
According to Nyāya philosophy, “The attributes of an eternal object are also eternal” (nityaṁ gataṁ nityaṁ, Tarka-saṁgraha, 3.6). Bhagavān is eternal, and therefore it follows that all aspects of Him, including His form, His name and His actions are eternal. But every action has a beginning and an end […]
Understanding Bhagavān is a difficult task because knowledge of Him is not easily comprehensible, and the scriptures do not always speak directly about Him. In the Bhagavat Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva took considerable effort to analyze the Bhāgavatam and distill key concepts about Him. One important concept is that Bhagavān’s […]
In Anuccheda 19, Sri Jiva Goswami establishes the important concept that the antaranga sakti is the source behind all action.
The Brahmavadīs claim that Brahman alone is real, and the material world as well as Vaikuṇṭha are unreal or illusory. They liken the material world to a dream, with no reality to it. Śrī Jīva Goswami refutes this view in Anuccheda 23 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha by establishing […]
From Nāma-tattva, pp. 50-51: Q: It is recommended that if one chants with offenses, they should continue chanting to become free from those offenses. Does this mean that one should continue chanting with offenses or with nāmābhāsa? A: No, why chant with offenses? Just chant the name and […]
As we have examined elsewhere, the Purāṇas differentiate between material or prākṛt sattva and viśuddha sattva. The distinction between these two is important to understand, because it helps us understand why Bhagavān is not perceivable to us, and how He can be perceived. The definition of viśuddha sattva. […]
In a previous post, we examined Śrī Jīva’s explanation of māyā in which he divided māyā into two divisions, jīva-māyā and guṇa-māyā. Jīva-māyā is Durgā, and guṇa-māyā refers to inert prakṛti. Questions were raised about whether it is really Śrī Jīva’s view that jīva-māyā is a conscious entity, […]
Śrī Jīva Goswami examines the meaning of māyā in Bhagavat Sandarbha Anuccheda 18. He gives his own unique explanation of māyā, which we examine here.
Śrī Jīva Goswami spends a large part of the Bhagavat Sandarbha establishing the concept that Śrī Bhagavān’s body is not a temporary product of māyā, but is real and a manifestation of viśuddha-sattva, beyond the material guṇas. In establishing this, he examines the experience of āpta-janas, or reliable […]
