Category: Epistemology

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Are the Sandarbhas not written by Śrī Jīva Goswami?

Question: Is Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa or Śrī Jīva author of the Sandarbhas? Answer: Anuchheda 4 and Anuccheda 5 of the Tattva Sandarbha make this matter clear. There, Śrī Jīva writes as follows (Śrī Babaji’s translation) ko’pi tad-bāndhavo bhaṭṭo dakṣiṇa-dvija-vaṁśajaḥ | vivicya vyalikhad granthaṁ likhitād vṛddha-vaiṣṇavaiḥ ||4|| Śrī Gopāla […]

The Sarva-samvādinī commentary on svābhāvika bheda-abheda-vāda

Reader Sridhar requested a translation of Śrī Jīva Goswami’s Sarva-samvādinī commentary on svābhāvika bheda-abheda-vāda, along with a translation of the late Śrī Ānanda Gopāla Vedānta-tirtha’s commentary on the Sarva-samvādinī. I present the translations below. Before this section, Śrī Jīva Goswami has refuted aupcārika bheda-abheda-vāda. Now he refutes svābhāvika […]

The method of the Sandarbhas

Śrī Jīva Goswami did not compile the Sandarbhas in a haphazard fashion. He followed a method of analysis which he explains in Anuccheda 27 of the Tattva Sandarbha. This method ought to be kept in mind when studying the Sandarbhas, because Śrī Jīva follows it throughout the Sandarbhas. […]

The Bhāgavataṁ is self-authoritative

The Bhāgavata is known as the topmost pramāṇa for Caitanya Vaiṣṇavas. What this means, in practical terms, is that Caitanya Vaiṣṇavas do not accept those statements in other śāstras that are not line with the Bhāgavata, and/or try to interpret such other statements so that they are in […]

The importance of being consistent

Nothing is more frustrating for a serious seeker than conceptual inconsistencies. Thankfully, Śrī Jīva Goswami’s approach is methodical, structured and well-planned, features a fearsome command over Sanskrit, and involves searching for and establishing a consistent, unitary message of the entire corpus of Indian theological literature. Seven types of […]