Śrī Jīva Goswami derives a number of insights into the nature of Śrī Kṛṣna’s existence by analyzing the direct experience of āptajanas, or reliable witnesses. One such individual is Śrī Nārada, who visited Dwaraka and was astonished to see Kṛṣna’s Līlā there. From an analysis of his experience, […]
Śrīla Rūpa Goswami has analyzed the various manifestations of the Lord in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta.
One of the defining characteristics of Bhagavān is that it is most difficult to understand how He functions. In Anuchheda 40 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva Goswami analyzes Brahmā’s prayers to Bhagavān from the tenth canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and gleans the four ways in which […]
A common understanding is that Nārayāṇa, from whose navel Brahmā was born, spoke the catuḥśloki Bhāgavatam to Brahmā. However, Śrī Jīva Goswami disagrees with this concept, and provides evidence that it was Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself who revealed the Bhāgavatam to Brahmā. In Anuccheda 10 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, […]
As discussed in a previous article, the four topics of the Bhāgavata’s catuḥśloki are jñāna, vijñāna, bhakti and prema. The first of the catuḥśloki gives jñāna, while the second gives vijñāna. Śrī Jīva Goswami analyzes the second verse in Anuccheda 96 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, which goes as […]
We continue our discussion of Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the catuḥśloki in Anuchheda 96 of the Bhagavat Sandarbha. As discussed in a previous article, the four topics of the catuḥśloki are jñāna, vijñāna, bhakti and prema. The first of the catuḥśloki gives jñāna: aham evāsam evāgre nānyad yat sad-asat […]
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.