Sat Sandarbha Class

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111Explanation on the "Sat-
sandarbhas"
of Srila Jiva Goswami
given
by Satyanarayana dasa in February of 1992.
In Indian philosophical system there are atheistic and theis

tic philosophies.
The philosophy of Carvaka Muni, the Buddhist philosophy and
the Jain philosophy come under the category of atheistic philoso
phies. And then there are the philosophies which are defeating
them and they are considered as theistic philosophies in which we
have six systems mainly. These six systems are divided in three
pairs: sankhya and yoga, nyaya and vaisasika, and purva and
uttara-mimamsas.
Most of the theistic philosophies fall in these classes
athough each one of them have many subdivisions. But predominant
ly all the theistic philosophies can be classified unto the six
systems.
- Sankhya the philosophy of Kapila. There are two Kapilas. One
is considered also as an atheist in the sense that he does not
accept the existence of God as the Cause behind creation. He is
not denying Him but he is not worried about Him. He explains his
philosophy without considering the existence of God. In Indian
philosophy a person is called theist if he does accept the Vedas
even if he does not accept God. In that sense the so-called
atheist Kapila is counted among the theist philosophers because
he accepts the Vedas even if he does not prove that God is the
ultimate Cause behind creation. This is why we refer to him as an
atheist.
Then there is Kapila that we know from Srimad-Bhagavatam, the
son of Devahuti.
- Yoga the philosophy of Patanjali who is considered its main
propounder although the Yoga system was existing before him. But
the present philosophy of Yoga is coming from Patanjali who is
also considered as an incarnation of Sesa Naga. He has done a
work on Sanskrit grammar and wrote commentaries known as "Maha-
bhasya". He also wrote books on Ayur-veda (--?-samhita is at
tributed to Patanjali). He also wrote the "Patanjali Yoga
sutras".
- Nyaya, logic, the philosophical system of Gautama who was a
great sage. His wife was cursed by himself to become a stone
piece who later on came back to life by the touch of Lord Rama
candra's lotus foot.
- Vaisasika started by a sage name Kannada. This philosophy is
similar to logic. They are considered as twins.
The new system of logic which was mainly started at Navadvipa
around 500 years ago, at the time of Lord Caitanya's, advent is a
mixture of both Nyaya and Vaisisika. Now it is called as "Nava
Nyaya" or the Newer Logic System.
Purva-mimamsa was propounded by the sage Jaimini one of Srila
Vyasadeva's disciples who put him in charge of the Soma-veda.
This philosophy is generally called as Karma-kanda system or the
system which explains the various rituals since birth until the
sraddha ceremony after death. In his philosophy, Jaimini more or
less speaks about karma. He has given lots of importance to
karma, means performing activity. He also does not give very much
importance to the Lord. He believes that basically if one per 2
ð272223 2222222222222222222 2forms karma, then karma is bound to give him the result.
It is
not necessary to accept a personality behind everything who is
controlling and arranging the result of our karma. Jaimini says
that by performing karma there is some kind of 'adrsya', invisi
ble result which is accrued by the person and he will get it
later on in this life or in the next.
Uttara-mimamasa is the Vedanta-sutras or Brahma-sutras of Sri
Badranarayana Rsi, Sri Vyasadeva. In his work Vyasadeva gives the
conclusion of all the knowledge of the Vedas, what is the ulti
mate reality.
The first sutra is:"atatho brahma-jijnasa", "now we will
enquire into Brahman or the Supreme Reality". "Now" means "after
going through the other philosophies and not being satisfied with
them, we propound this".
Because most of the sutras in the Vedanta-sutra are not very
explicit in their meaning different people have writen commen
taries on them. These commentaries are mainly divided in two
divisions: personalists and impersonalists.
The impersonalists are mainly headed by Sankaracarya. He wrote
"Sariraka-bhasya" or "Sankara-bhasya", commentaries on Vedanta-
sutra and from that there are also further branches.
The personalists are mainly the Vaisnavas and we have four
main schools: school of Ramanujacarya who wrote "Sri-bhasya";
school of Madvacarya who wrote ...?-bhasya";
school of Nimbarka;
school of Visnusvami.
There are no commentaries available of these last two, but
later there are commentaries writen by Vallabhacarya from the
Visnusvami sampradaya and some acarya from Nimbarka school has
writen a commentary which is attributed to Nimbarka himself by
some people.
These commentaries on the Vedanta-sutra give different expla
nations about the ultimate reality.
As Gaudiya-vaisnavas we follow Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who
proposed the natural commentary of Vedanta-sutra writen by Srila
Vyasadeva himself which is called Srimad-Bhagavatam. Therefore if
we want to understand the highest Absolute Truth we must study
this Srimad-Bhagavatam. If an author writes a book we should know
what is his opinion, what he wants to say, not that we take his
words and write commentary and say something which may not agree
with the author. When we make a statement it may have many mean
ings but what is the meaning which the author wants to convey
that is best understood if we can read his own commentary.
But when we come to Srimad-Bhagavatam we find that also many
people have writen commentaries and again they have propounded
various philosophies. Even the impersonalist have writen commen
taries on the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Although Sankaracarya himself
did not comment on Srimad-Bhagavatam, later on some acaryas on
his line have commented on it and they gave impersonal conclusion
from Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Again the same problem comes. The ultimate purpose for which
Srila Vyasadeva has writen all this huge ammount of literature,
the Vedas, the Puranas, the Itihasas, the Sutras, the Samhitas,
the Upanisads, and finally the Vedanta-Sutra and its commentary
the Srimad-Bhagavatam has been covered again. What does he want 3
ð373333 3333333333333333333 3to say?
So, our Goswamis being ordered by Sri Mahaprabhu, analized
Srimad-Bhagavatam to put forward the opinion of the author him
self.
These 'sat-sandarbhas' (sat means six) are also known origi
nally as 'Bhagavat-sandarbha'. They are the books writen by Srila
Jiva Goswami to give an analysis of Srimad-Bhagavatam. If we want
to understand the hidden meaning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the real
fundamental message conveyed by Sri Vyasa, then we have to study
the "sat-sandharbas'.
These previous explanations were meant to show how the sat-
sandarbhas fit on the all scene of literature and what is the
purpose in writing them.
The message that Srila Jiva Goswami conveys in his 'sat-
sandarbhas' is actually the heart of Srila Vyasadeva. He himself
said "now I am going to analyze the heart of Vyasadeva, now I am
going to analyze the heart of Sukadeva Goswami and the heart of
Suta Goswami", because these three are the main personalities who
have composed and taught Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then he proves that
whatever he says is what they have said and all three are in
harmony. He explains how all of them have said the same thing.
Sandarbha means a book which explains the hidden meanings
which gives the essence and the various explanations of the
subject matter. Srimad-Bhagavatam is not a book that can be
understood very esily. In sanskrit community there is famous
saying: "the test of one's scholarship is Srimad-Bhagavatam".
This means that if one can understand Srimad-Bhagavatam and he
can explain it, he must be a scholar. All great Vaisnavas in
India wrote commentaries on Srimad-Bhagavatam because this is one
of the means to show or test their scholarship which unables them
to give the message to others.
Although we worship Krsna as the Supreme Personality of God
head and we quote the verse from S.B. "krsnas tu bhagavan
svayam", but in SB itself there are so many statements which say
that Krsna is an incarnation of hair of Lord Visnu, He is an
incarnation of Garbhodakasayi Visnu, He is an incarnation of
Anirudha, He is an incarnation of Lord Ramacandra..., so many
statements. So, how to understand the real meaning behind that?
All this analizis is done in the Sandarbhas.
Jiva Goswami was the son of Anupama and the nephew of Srila
Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatana Goswami. He was born in 1518 in
the village of Ramakeli. He saw Lord Caitanya when He came to
Ramakeli to meet Rupa and Sanatana. It is said that he was a very
young boy at that time maybe 4 or 5 years old. His father, Anupa
ma was a great devotee of Ramachandra died when Jiva Goswami was
very young. Later on when Srila Rupa and Srila Sanatana they came
to Vrndavana he also left home and went to Navadvipa where he met
Sri Nityananda Prabhu who had already predicted his arrival in
Navadvipa. Then Nityananda Prabhu took him around, in parikrama
to Navadvipa ( the first Navadvipa Parikrama of our parampara).
Then Nityananda Prabhu ordered him "I have blessed you, I've
given you enough mercy, but Lord Caitanya has fixed the place of
your family in Vrndavana. You go and join your uncles Rupa and
Sanatana." He was by that time about 16 years old.
While going to Vrndavana he stayed for few years in Benares 4
ð474443 4444444444444444444 4which was considered by that time as a city of learning
like
Navadvipa (even now is considered as a city of learning in the
field of Sanskrit and Vedic philosophies). Because he was very
intelligent, in a very short period of time, he mastered all the
six systems ofphilosophy, the sanskrit grammar, astrology, the
six Vedangas, the Vedas.... Everything he studied there. It is
said that he studied under the great scholar named Madhusudhana
Vacaspati who, some people say, was the brother of Sarvabhauma
Battacharya. Then he went to Vrndavana to join Srila Rupa and
Sanatana. He became initiated by Srila Rupa Goswami.
Because he was a great scholar he was helping Rupa and Sanata
na. All the editing work was done by him. Srila Rupa Goswami used
to give anything he wrote, to Jiva Goswami, to edit. Jiva Goswami
wrote commentaries on "Ujjvala-nilamani' and other works of
Srila Rupa Goswami. Besides writing his own books, he wrote many
commentaries. Of all the Goswamis he was the most prolific writ
er. It is said that all his works are equal, in ammount, to the
18 Puranas (without using the help of Ganesa). There a saying
about him that when he would write a page he would not wait until
the ink get dried to write on the other side. He would go to the
next paper and write and then would come to the previous paper.
He composed everything in his mind like a computer. And once he
wrote no editing was necessary - that was the final print.
The 'sat-sandarbhas' were composed in Gokula. In the book
itself he says that some work was done by Gopala Bhatta Goswami
but it was neither complete nor in the proper order nor fully
available. Therefore he writes himself for the pleasure of Rupa
and Sanatana.
The six sandarbhas are known as "Tattva-sandarbha", "Bhagava
ta-sandarbha" (this Bhagavata refers to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead not to the book Bhagavata), "Paramatma-sandarbha",
"Krsna-sandarbha", "Bhakti-sandarbha" and "Prtti-sandarbha".
Tattva-sandarbha which is the smallest has two sections:

- the first can be called pramana or the epistomology;
- the second is called prameya or the object of knowledge.
Whenever we discuss a philosophy we have to explain what are
the valid means of knowledge. Different philosophers they accept
different means of knowledge as valid. There is always some
arguments and counter-arguments about which one is bona-fide or
not.
In the first section or first half of the book, more or less
it discusses these things. Then in the second half it discusses
what is the object of knowledge, what is knowable, what is to be
known.
There are 63 sections or divisions which are called anuched
das.
The first 29 are dealing with the epistomologic part; and then
the next sections are the premeya or the knowable.
In the first section, first he begins with the Invocation or
Mangalacaram. And by performing this Invocation, he quotes a
verse from SB: "krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam\ sangopangastra-
parsadam\ yajnaih sankirtana-prayair\ yajanti hi su-medhasah. By
this verse he opens the book, that means he indirectly indicates
that our worshipable book is Srimad-Bhagavatam, we are going to 5
ð575553 5555555555555555555 5accept its authority and therefore we are beginning our
invoca
tion with the Srimad-Bhagavatam. It also indicates that our
worshipable Deity is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, therefore we are
quoting the verse about His appearance. He also says "I accept
the Srimad-Bhagavatam and even though there are other verses in
other scriptures about Lord Caitanya, I just quote Srimad-
Bhagavatam." It also shows that sankirtana is the abhidheya, or
the means to attain or please Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And who
will perform this sankirtana? Su-medhasah, the intelligent class
of people will take to this process.
This is a custom in Vedic system, to begin everything with
Mangalacarana, or asking for the blessings of the Lord so then
the work can be completed without any disturbances.
Then Srila Jiva Goswami writes his own verse to give the
meaning to this verse and there he explains "antah krsnam bahir
gauram", inside is Krsna and outside is Gaura. Then he explains
the meaning. After that in the remaining of the verses he gives
the meaning or the reason why he is writing this book. He prays
to Rupa and Sanatana Goswami and he says that "they have engaged
me to write this book" so people do not think that he is writing
as a show of scholarship. He says that he is just expanding what
ever Sri Rupa wrote that was not arranged properly or available
completely.
Then he explains for whom is he writing, because if one is
writing a book is has to know who are the people qualified to
read it. So he says "yah sri-krsna-padambhoja.... " "I am writing
this book only for those people whose only desire is to render
service unto the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna or Krsna Caitanya.
Please don't show my book to anyone else. My book should not be
shown to anyone who don't desire to render service to Krsna."
After that he prays to his teachers from whom he studied the
Srimad-Bhagavatam and his initiating spiritual master, then he
begins writing.
Finally he composes one verse which is also found in CC where
he explains that there is one Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri
Krsna who is also called Brahma. That Brahma is not other than
Lord Sri Krsna, without variety. And His one potency is glorious
and controls Maya - His Paramatma feature. In another form He is
existing in Vaikuntha as Narayana. May this Lord Krsna grant His
prema to those people who are serving His lotus feet.
Then he begins explaining.
On section number 9 onwards, he first explains directly what
is sambandha, abhideya and prayojana.
The question then, is to know what are the means, the process
to understand this. Is it based on direct perception or is it
based on the scriptures, or inference or similarity? On what is
it based?
Then he explains that although there are various means of
acquiring knowledge and different philosophers have accepted
different means. The Carvakas beleive only in direct perception.
They that the only pramana is pratyaksa-pramana and no other
processe is valid. They say that there are only four elements:
earth, water, fire and air. They don't accept ether or sky. For
them consciousness does not exist separately from matter. When
the four elements come together to form the body then conscious 6
ð676663 6666666666666666666 6ness come into existence. They say: "don't eat meat or fish,
eat
food made with ghee. Beg, borrow, buy or steal, somehow or other
get ghee." They think that the only happiness is here, so "eat
nicely, enjoy, because the only happiness is here, heaven is
here".
Next is the Buddhist philosophy: they accept direct perception
as well as inference (anumana). There are four divisions on their
philosophy: 1) Nirvana- as the Carvakas, they that one has to
become free from material desires, renounce everything, only then
can one be peaceful and happy. But they don't accept the exist
ence of the soul.
The other philosophy is the Jainism. They only accept these
two process: direct perception and inference. They are a little
more advanced then the Buddhists because they accept the exist
ence of the soul, but for them soul is not atomic in size. They
say that the soul has the same size as the body. If there is one
elephant then the soul is the size of an elephant. If there is an
ant, the soul is the size of an ant. They say that is impossible
that the soul is localized in one place of the body and feels in
another place.
Then we have Yoga and Sankhya. They accept sabda-pramana as
the valid means besides anumana and pratyaksa. They accept the
word of the scriptures. This is also what we accept. Most Vaisna
vas accept these three pramanas and we, Gaudiya-Vaisnavas, accept
that. But we consider sabda-pramana as the topmost.
Even though there are other processes, Srila Jiva Goswami only
accepts these three on the grounds that Srila Madvacarya only
accepted these three as the valid means of knowledge. Then he
says that a human being cannot convey proper knowledge because he
is endowed with four defects, brahma, pramada, vipraliksa and ?,
that is: delusion (taking one thing for another e.g. considering
the rope as snake or the human being as a tree), then inadvert
ence (it means that even when the conditions are alright, still
one will not be able to get proper knowledge. One may be sitting
in the class, the eyes and ears may be opened, but one may not be
listening), then the desire to cheat (I know something properly
but I will convey it as improper so he will not get the proper
knowledge), then there is limitation of the senses (all our sense
perception is very limited). Some of these defects are innate in
us, some depend on the circumstances, some depend on the person
ality, on the character of the person.
So when we see all this, we can understand that some of the
defects cannot be removed, because even the great sages, they
don't have the desire to cheat but the other defects they also
have. Therefore Srila Jiva Goswami says that only sabda-pramana,
which is apauruseya, not coming from any human being, will be
free from these defects and that will be considered as the valid
knowledge.
Srila Jiva Goswami says: "therefore we are not going to anal
ize the other processes but we can limit ourselves to sabda-
pramana and we will analize sabda with sabda because sabda, or
word, is of two types pauruseya and apauruseya. Apauruseya is
that which is not composed by any human being and pauruseya is
composed by human beings whether is a common person or a saintly
person a great sage. We based our knowledge on apauruseya, sabda- 7
ð777773 7777777777777777777 7brahmana, or transcendental sound." The transcendental
sound are
the Vedas, they have come directly from Purusa, or the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
It is interesting to know that they are coming from Purusa but
they are called apauruseya. This can be explained in different
ways. We can say that they are not composed by any human being or
we can say that they are not composed even by the Lord. They come
from Him but even He has not composed them because they are
eternal. Just as the Lord is nitya, eternal also the Vedas are
nitya. There is not one particular date when the Lord composed
them, that is why it is said that the Vedas have come from His
breath, because naturally the breath is flowing, we don't con
sciously say :"now I am going to breath in, now I breath out".
When we have to perform a work we have to consciously do it, but
breathing we don't do it consciously, even when we sleep it goes
on. We don't feel proud "I am breathing!". In the same way the
Vedas have come out from the Lord and He has not consciously sat
down with the intention of writing the Vedas, because they are
eternaly with Him, they just become sometimes manifest and some
times non-manifest, in and out. For this reason they are apauru
seya.
But Srila Jiva Goswami says that the problem still the same.
The problem is that the Vedas, at present, are not available in
its entirety. Originally they were suposed to be 1130 branches of
the Vedas: 21 branches of Rg-veda, 1000 branches of Soma-veda,
900 branches of Yajur-veda and 9 branches of Atharva-veda. But
what is available at present is the maximum of 20 branches, that
means only 10% or less. So if the case is that how can we under
stand the Vedas. Suppose that out of the 700 verses of the Bhaga
vad-gita we just had 20 verses, how could we understand it in
all? We would not get any conclusion.
So that is one great problem , Srila Jiva Goswami says. Even
though we cannot have the entire Vedas we could try to understand
whatever is available but a second problem is that the Vedas are
very difficult to understand because the language is very diffi
cult and they cannot be understood if there is not the proper
sampradaya and that sampradaya has broken down, so the criptic
message of the Vedas cannot be understood. Besides that even if
we want to understand, in Kali-yuga we endowed of very less
memory and to understand Vedas we have to understand first the
Vedangas with all its six divisions. If we don't understand these
six books we cannot understand the Vedas. Therefore, Srila Jiva
Goswami says "why not we study the Puranas?". And on the top of
everything, not everybody is allowed to study the Vedas, because
the Vedas themselves say that only the twice-born can approach
the Vedic knowledge. So why not we study the Puranas? Vyasadeva
himself says that he has composed this Mahabharata and Puranas
for people who cannot understand Vedas.
So Srila Jiva Goswami starts to analize the Puranas. One work
that he wants to do is to show that the Puranas have not the
defect of pauruseya. Everyone agrees in India that Vedas are
apauruseya not composed by any person. Even the Mayavadis agree
with that. Even many western scholars agree that they cannot
trace the begin of the Vedas.
First, Srila Jiva Goswami wants to prove that the Puranas are 8
ð878883 8888888888888888888 8as good as the Vedas. For this purpose he devotes the
first
section of the first part of this sandarbha - to prove how the
Puranas are as good as Vedas. Then he gives many quotations, from
Brhad-anarakya (?) Upanisad to prove that the Puranas and Vedas
appeared at the same time, they all came from the breath of the
Lord along with the Vedas. Then he explains that the Puranas are
basically called like that because the complete the meaning of
the Vedas. Purna means to make complete (purna iti purana). He
says the vedic meaning are very difficulty to understand and if
one does not study the Puranas he will not understand the Vedas.
Whatever there is in the Vedas it is also in the Puranas. In fact
the Puranas are like commentaries of the Vedas. The same message
of the Vedas have been conveyed in the Puranas in a simple story
form so that everyone can read it because anyone likes stories.
Then he also propounds that just as Vedas were divided by Sri
Vyasa into four divisions, the Puranas were also divided by
Vyasa, so he is the same author. And this Vyasa is none else than
an incarnation of Lord Narayana Himself. Therefore His words have
to be authoritative.
Srila Jiva Goswami takes a lot of time on this part, estab
lishing the authority of the Puranas. He also tells a very nice
story how Narayana took this incarnation. He says that before
Dvapara-yuga there was a great famine, so all the great saintly
people and brahmanas they assembled in the place of Gautama Rsi
who was having some mystic powers and was feeding everyone. But
after some time rain came and from rain came the grains so every
body wanted to go back to their asramas and Gautama Rsi was
keeping them because he wanted to be very hospitable and a good
host. But they really wanted to go to their places so they try to
device some means to leave. They made a calf out of hay and put
it on the way to the river where Gautama use to go take is bath
early in the morning. In the next morning when Gautama Rsi was
walking to the river he kicked the calf and it fell down. Every
one start to say that he had killed a cow so they could not stay
anymore in the place of a cow-killer, and they all left. Gautama
was very surprised how he could have killed a cow in that way so
when the sun came he saw that they had played a trick. He cursed
them to loose all their knowledge and thus many of the scriptures
were lost. Then the demigods went to pray to the Lord and He
decided to appear as Vyasadeva and again compile the Vedas and
the Puranas. Therefore Srila Jiva Goswami says that the Puranas
are all authoritative as the Vedas.
But again the problem in the Puranas remain the same. There
are 18 Puranas and they speak about different demigods as being
the Supreme Lord. The Siva Purana says that Lord Siva is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Skanda-purana says that
Skanda is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Bhagavat-purana
says that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; and Devi-
purana says that Devi is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; and
so on. So what to do? How to understand who is right or is wrong,
there is so much confusion.
Then he says that the Puranas are actually divided in three
classes: six in the mode of goodness, six in the mode of passion
and six in the mode of ignorance. Then he says, quoting Bhagavad-
gita, that from the mode of goodness comes knowledge, from pas 9
ð979993 9999999999999999999 9sion comes greed and from ignorance comes sleep.
Therefore we
should concentrate on those Puranas which are in the mode of
goodness. But in that there is also some problem, because some of
the Puranas are talking about Nrsimhadeva, some speak about Lord
Ramacandra, other speak about Visnu, other talk about Narayana.
We can all understand that they are all Bhagavan, but who is
"svayam-bhagavan"? This is hard to decipher. So he says that if
we can come to one book which is giving the meaning of Vedanta-
sutra, which explains the meaning of Gayatri, which is apauruseya
in nature, and which is completely available and there is a
sampradaya existing for that book, then we should analize that
book. So we are talking about Srimad-Bhagavatam. He decides then
to discuss only on Srimad-Bhagavatam. Of course he proves how the
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the natural commentary of Vedanta-sutra, it
is beginning with Gayatri-mantra (the first mantra), it is com
pletely available in 18.000 verses, and there is a parampara
available (he talks about Ramanujacarya and Madvacarya who ac
cepted Srimad-Bhagavatam. Even Sankaracarya accepted it.). Then
he establishes the Srimad-Bhagavatam as the ultimate book of
pramana. Of course there are many details.
From here he begins analizing. Now since we have decided that
the Srimad-Bhagavatam is the book authority then we will discuss
from Srimad-Bhagavatam. Whenever we want to give authority, we
will quote from Srimad-Bhagavatam. He says: "I will not quote the
Srimad-Bhagavatam to give authority to my words but I will quote
the Srimad-Bhagavatam to explain what the Bhagavatam says and
that is what I want to explain. I will quote other scriptures but
the Bhagavatam will be the ultimate authority."
Srila Jiva Goswami says that the Srimad-Bhagavatam is the
topmost book of authority because Sri Vyasadeva wrote it as a
book for himself. Generaly a writer writes something for the
benefit of others. That was the case with Sri Vyasa with all the
books compiled by him. Himself said that he wrote the Mahabharata
for the benefit of people in Kali-yuga since they cannot under
stand the Vedas. But Srimad-Bhagavatam was compiled by him be
cause he was not satisfied in himself therefore he wrote this
book for his own satisfaction on the instruction of his spiritual
master. That also tells about the importance of Srimad-Bhagavatam
which gave Vyasadeva satisfaction who is considered as an incar
nation of the Lord.
Then Srila Jiva Goswami showed how the Srimad-Bhagavatam was
accepted by the great acaryas. Even Sankaracarya respect it
because he composed one poem called "Govindastaka" in which he
mentions about Lord Krsna's pastimes from the 10th canto of SB.
In that poem he also prays that he desires to pass his time
sitting on the bank of the Yamuna and meditate on Lord Krsna when
He was surrounded by His cowherd friends eating the food kept on
His hands. He says that this is the perfection of life.
Taking hints from these compositions and other words like
"bhaja govindam, bhaja govindam", some of his followers were
inclined towards bhakti and some others were staunch impersonal
ist who didn't care anything about bhakti. There were actually
two branches among his followers: the bhagavata-sampradaya -
these they used to study the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Sridhara Swami
composed his famous commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavatam, "Bhaga 10
ð1071010103 10101010101010101010101010101010101010 10vat-dipika" to attract these
people to devotional service. His
commentary was accepted by Lord Caitanya as bona-fide, that is
why He criticized Vallabhacarya who said of himself to have
writen a better commentary than Sridhara Swami.
Srila Jiva Goswami says: "I will quote the commentary of
Sridhara Swami to give proof." This is because the six Goswamis
have taken the message of Lord Caitanya to their hearts and they
didn't want to do anything that did not please Him. But Srila
Jiva Goswami continues: " In some places Sridhara Swami had not
writen in a very clear sense, then I will write my own commen
tary." And also in some places Sridhara Swami's commentaries are
not according to the bhakti principles because he was using the
logic called ?- nyaya. That means when one wants to catch the
fish he has to supply meat. The purpose of using meat is not to
feed the fish with it what one wants is to catch the fish. In the
same way Sridhara Swami's purports are not that he wants to give
impersonal comments on Srimad-Bhagavatam but if he does not do
that the impersonalists will think that he is a Vaisnava and they
will not read his commentaries. So he writes mixed commentaries.
Sometimes right from the beginning he explains very clearly that
he accepts the Lord and His potencies as eternal, he accepts this
material world as part of His potency not just "mitya". But in
between, while he is commenting, sometimes he writes impersonal
comments. Srila Jiva Goswami says that we will not accept those
comments and for this reason some western philosophers have
criticized Srila Jiva Goswami thinking that he is just accepting
Sridhara Swami for his own purpose not really paying any respect
to him. But Srila Jiva Goswami is not hiding this, he clearly
comments about it.
Then he talks about Ramanujacarya and Madvacarya who accepted
also the authority of Srimad- Bhagavatam.
Then he starts to analize Srimad-Bhagavatam. The first thing
he does is to try to analize the heart of Sukadeva Goswami. Then
he quotes verses that were spoken by Suta Goswami as prayer to
his guru. Then he starts to answer the questions of Saunaka Rsi.
In the 2nd chapter he prays to Sukadeva Goswami and in that
prayer he mentions "I bow down to the son of Vyasa, the destroyer
of all sins whose mind was filled with Brahmananda and thus his
mind was free from wordly thoughts; who has his heart drawn to
his enchanting beloved 'ajita'; and who has compassionately
unfolded this Purana, revolving around Him, Lord Krsna. Saluta
tions to Him."
In this verse and in the next specifically he mentions that
Sukadeva Goswami was absorbed in brahmananda. The significance of
that is that he had no material desires. It means that if he
studied Srimad-Bhagavatam was not for showing his knowledge by
delivering 'Bhagavata-sapta' but he was already situated in
Brahman, he was 'atmarama', self-satisfied. He was that person
behind which his father was calling "putra, putra!" and didn't
care for that call. He was that same person who didn't discrimi
nate between male and female. This shows how highly advanced
Sukadeva Goswami was. But the same person he came back and stud
ied Srimad-Bhagavatam. This means that Srimad-Bhagavatam is so
important that even an atmarama like Sukadeva was attracted. And
we should note that all impersonalists accept Sukadeva Goswami as 11
ð1171111113 11111111111111111111111111111111111111 11their authority in Brahman.
The impersonalists also give up
everything and go away, but they don't follow completely Sukade
va Goswami who came back to study Srimad-Bhagavatam.
This was also the question asked by Saunaka Rsi to Suta Goswa
mi, that Sukadeva Goswami was so highly renounced that he would
not stay in a house more time that it is needed to milk a cow
then were did he find the time to study this Srimad-Bhagavatam?
Then he recited the famous "atmarama-sloka", that even the
atmaramas, who are called "nirgrantha" (who have gone beyond
'grantha', literatures. This means that they don't have any need
to follow any rules and regulations because these are to be fol
lowed for a certain purpose and once one have attained it one
doesn't need to follow them, they have already bypass them they
are considered "avadhutas" ,which means those who have shaken
away all rules and regulations). Also 'grantha' means 'knot'.
Those who are free from the knots of maya they don't need any
scriptures because the scriptures are there to help us to come to
the stage of Krsna consciousness and if one is already there then
he need not follow it, they follow the Lord directly. So even
such a person who is brahman situated performs bhakti because
without performing bhakti one cannot attain Brahman realization.
One cannot get 'moksa' without bhakti, it is not possible. So
impersonalists also take shelter of devotion to get liberation
but later on they give up bhakti. But Sukadeva Goswami is not
performing bhakti for any cause, it is causeless devotion. Then
it must be some reason why he is doing it?
Sukadeva Goswami was attracted to hear the Srimad-Bhagavatam
which speaks about Lord Krsna's transcendental qualities. So what
he is going to speak to Pariksit Maharaja is not impersonal
Brahman. He is not going to propound later on that the goal of
life,'brahma-jijnasa', is to become "one" with Brahman because
that was where he was at. He explains that although is mind was
filled with Brahmananda neverthless he was attracted by the Lila
of Ajita. His mind was very attracted by the transcendental
pastimes of the beautiful Lord Krsna. He says "whatever my mind
is attracted to, I am going to speak. He I really consider some
body as my friend, I will tell him what is in my heart, not
something that I already rejected." Therefore whatever Sukadeva
Goswami speaks has to be with devotion nothing else, because this
he consideres as the need for human beings to purify themselves.
He thus spoke the most confidential Purana, the Bhagavat-purana.
In the past many acaryas vaisnavas have writen books to
defeat Mayavadis, but again the Mayavadis have again writen books
to counter the Vaisnavas. But the style that Srila Jiva Goswami
uses no one had shown any counter-arguments. No body in the last
500 years have dare to speak against his commentaries, because
the logic style which he follows either they have to read and
accept it or else they have to close it and go away.
This is the main logic and we should understand it very
carefully because it will make easier to understand how Srila
Jiva Goswami propounds his philosophy in the latter books.
Then he says "I have analized the heart of the speaker, Sri
Sukadeva Goswami, now let us see what the writer has to say,
because sometimes the speaker can give his own ideas and that is
not the idea of the writer." Therefore he analizes the samadhi of 13
ð1371313133 13131313131313131313131313131313131313 13Srila Vyasa because Narada
had told Vyasa to experience in sa
madhi everything that he had told him. Not that just he would
understand and then start writing. He had done a great work but
now he needed to meditate upon the words of his guru Sri Narada
Muni and experience the most important work that he had to accom
plish. So Vyasadeva sat in samadhi (this in the 7th chapter of
the 1st Canto of SB). Then he took those verses and analized what
he saw in samadhi and from that he concluded all the philosophy
that later on was propounde by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Whatever
Lord Caitanya said is coming from these verses of Srimad-
Bhagavatam which explain the trance of Srila Vyasadeva. And that
is the heart of Srimad-Bhagavatam because from that only he
composed the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
13 b b
!
13bhaktiyogena manasi samyak pranihite 'male /
13 TT!
13apasyad purusam purnam mayam ca tadapasrayam //
He sat down with fixed mind by using the process of bhakti-

yoga (not astanga-yoga). By bhakti-yoga when he was completely
pure in his mind he saw 'purnapurusa'. This shows that when one's
heart is purified by bhakti-yoga, one actually sees the Lord.
This bhakti is not simply a armchair philosophy, it is a practi
cal philosophy one will actually realize it. It is not simply
word juglery like the Mayavadis, because as soon as he sat in
samadhi he saw 'purnapurusa', the complete Personality of God
head. Purnapurusa means the Lord with the complete sixteen poten
cies, like the moon has sixteen potencies and from the new it
goes on manifesting one by one its sixteen potencies. So he saw
'purnapurusa' like the complete full moon, that means seeing the
moon along with its rays. He saw Lord Krsna along with His poten
cies, which means Radharani, His associates, His abode..., every
thing. That is 'purnapurusam'. All Vaisnavas say that only Krsna
can be 'purnapurusa' because the others are not purna-tattva.
Not only he saw Krsna but he also saw Maya. This defeats
Mayavadi philosophy, because their philosophy propounds that
there is only one truth, Brahman, and that has not potencies. It
has no form, no qualities, no characteristics, no potencies. But
he saw the Lord with all His potencies, including Maya. This
means that Maya is also part of the Lord's potencies which means
that it is not mitya, false. It is eternal as Brahman is eternal.
He also saw the living entity. In the impersonal philosophy does
not have any independent existence. Jiva is nothing but Brahman
confused. When Brahman becomes****? that is called Jiva. When
Brahman starts thinking "I don't know who am I", when it gets
covered by Maya he thinks "I am this, I am that..., I am a living
entity." But he says that he saw the living entity but he was
bewildered by Maya. He also says that he didn't see 'purnapurusa'
bewildered by Maya. It is only the Jiva that was bewildered.
Therefore it is not that Brahman was bewildered by Maya and
became Jiva, because it was only the Jiva who was bewildered by
Maya.
And what is that bewilderement? jiva atmanam trigunatmakam,
he thinks himself made of the three modes of material nature,
that he is the body, subtle or gross. Paro 'pi manute 'nartham,
although he is 'para', transcendental, he thinks himself 'tatkr
tam cabhipadyate', and then he becomes involved in whatever he 14
ð1471414143 14141414141414141414141414141414141414 14performs in this material
body. This is what he saw. And then he
also saw the solution for it, how can he get rid of this condi
tioning. And the solution is not "aham brahmasmi, aham brahmasmi"
so on, so on.... He says "anarthopasamam saksad bhaktiyogam
adhoksaje". This anartha, or this conditioning of the living
entity can be removed by performing direct devotional service
unto "adhoksaja". And 'lokasyajanato vyasas cakre satvatasamhi
tam', this was not known to people. People only knew that if one
wants to become mukta, or liberated, then he has to say 'aham
brahmasmi', so on, so on.... But he says that 'lokasyajanato'
that what was not know to people is that if one performs devo
tional service unto adhoksaja, then he becomes free from anar
thas.
Previously people thought that devotional service was only
a means and ultimately they have to come to the platform of
Brahman or the impersonal realization. But here Vyasadeva is not
saying that. He says that this is the direct process. Therefore
he composed this 'satvatasamhita'.
Then he gives a very wonderful meaning to 'Adhoksaja'. He
says the adhoksaja is a name of Krsna, because 'aksa' is the axel
of the cart. Krsna was hanging under this cart in the house of
Nanda Maharaja when He was a baby, then the Saktasura came and He
kicked him and the cart broke down. Krsna was lying there so
everyone came and said: "adhoksaja!". Adha means below, aksa is
the axle of the cart and ja means born. So everyone said :"He has
taken another birth!" They thougth He was dead, because they saw
the big cart all broken with so many things hanging on it. But
nothing had happened to Krsna. So they said His name should be
"Adhoksaja". Srila Jiva Goswami says that this is that Adhoksaja
to Whom we have to perform bhakti.
Then he gives a very wonderful statement: yasyam vai
sruyamanayam krsne paramapuruse / bhaktir utpadyate pumsah soka
mohabhayapaha //. What is the use of composing this satva-
samhita, what is the use? Because simply by hearing it one will
attain devotion to Krsna who is parampurusa. This is the same
parampurusa that Vyasa has seen, Krsna the son of Nanda and
Yasoda. Sruyamanayam means "while listening" it will happen. And
after listening one starts preaching. One will become blissful
and free from sakamohabhayapaha, the material desease of lamenta
tion, bewilderement and fear.
Then, sa samhitam bhagavatim krtvanukramya catmajam /
sukam adhyapayam asa nivrttiniratam munim, after composing this
Srimad-Bhagavatam which is known as bhagavati-samhita, Vyasadeva
taught this book to Sukadeva Goswami. And why did he teach it to
Sukadeva Goswami since he had so many disciples like Jaimini,
Vyasampanu, Romaharsana and others, all so great personalities,
so why he taught it to Sukadeva who did even knew how to tight
his kopins? He says nivrttiniratam munim, because Sukadeva Goswa
mi was nivrtta, he was not in the path of pravrtti-marga, he was
completely renounced, that means he had no scope of misusing the
book. He had no scope of misunderstanding the book, because when
one has material desires in the heart one has the tendency to
misunderstand or misinterpret the message for our means. Sukadeva
was a muni, a thougthful person even though he wander like a
crazy person. There are crazy people who don't care for anything, 15
ð1571515153 15151515151515151515151515151515151515 15who could be called also
nivrttaniratam, but they are not muni,
thougthful. Then Vyasadeva explained the atmarama ca munayo.
All these points ultimately explain the importance of
Srimad-Bhagavatam and its philosophy. This is actually the heart
of Srila Vyasadeva. This is the theme which he takes and compiles
later on. This is where all the Vainava philosophies, specially
the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy, come from, because the name of
Krsna is directly mentioned, bhakti is mentioned and also the
energies of the Lord are mentioned. Therefore this is what Srila
Jiva Goswami expands. He just expands the original message, that
is why he calls his work bhagavat-sandharbhas, or the books
which reveal the hidden meanings of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the heart
of Srila Vyasadeva. He actually goes to the hidden heart and
takes all the meaning.
After that he also analizes the heart of Suta Goswami and
he quotes verses where Suta Goswami himself is speaking. To the
six questions put by the sages of Naimisaranya, Suta Goswami
first answered himself in the second and third chapters. And if
we read those, again we find all the philosophy is there. And
Suta Goswami himself has given the same solution. He himself
talks about studying the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He begins by saying
narayana namaskrtyam\ naro caiva narottama, and then he goes on
to say nityam bhagavatam sevaya, just by performing service to
this bhagavatam one's heart can become purified. In this way
Srila Jiva Goswami analizes the hearts of these three great
personalities, the writter, the first speaker and the second
speaker. Then he says that if one wants to analize further, he
can also analize the heart of Maitreya Muni, who is also a great
speaker of the Bhagavatam, analize the heart of Pariksit Mahara
ja, what he actually wanted to hear (because Pariksit Maharaja
himself said: "I am not worried whether the tataksa serpent can
come and bite me, please continue to chant the glories of Lord
Visnu, because I am not interested in anything else."). So if we
analize in this way we will see that the Srimad-Bhagavatam ex
plains these three things: sambandha, abhideya and prayojana.
These are the six books that Srila Jiva Goswami wrote. In
the first four books he analizes the sambandha, because this
sambandha is the theme about which are so many confusions and so
many theories and philosophies. So he wrote these four books to
analize this in great detail, because unless one understands
sambandha clearly, he will not attain the goal.
He writes Bhagavat-sandharbha and Krsna-samdharbha. In
Krsna-sandarbha he explains that there is bhagavan but there is
svayam-bhagavan and that is Lord Krsna. There is establishes Lord
Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If Srila Jiva Goswa
mi had not writen the Krsna-sandarbha it would be very difficult
to prove that Krsna is svayam-bhagavan. Here he does the most au
thoritatively work, the topmost research work of this kali-yuga,
to explain that Krsna is actually the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, because even in other vaisnava-sampradayas they don't
accept it. They all think that Krsna is some incarnation of
Visnu, Narayana, Rama, Pradyumna or Sankarsana, etc. So many
philosophies. In Krsna-sandarbha he takes all these arguments,
defeats everything and establishes Krsna as bhagavan-svayam. He
says that this is his cakravarti statement, or the emperor state 16
ð1671616163 16161616161616161616161616161616161616 16ment from Bhagavatam:
krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. He says that
this is enough for him to defeat everything. He takes all the
counter-arguments from the Bhagavatam and all other Puranas
stating that Krsna is not the Supreme and he chops everything one
by one, and finally he establishes Lord Krsna as Supreme.
Then in Bhakti-sandarbha he explains abhidheya-tattva, or
the process - what is the means to acquire the goal. There he
analyzes bhakti in great detail because there are so many types
of bhakti. There is saguna-bhakti, nirguna-bhakti, sadhana-
bhakti, raganuga-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, prema-bhakti... He anal
izes everything. Even though bhakti has been analized by Srila
Rupa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, in his Bhakti-
sandarbha Srila Jiva Goswami reveals so many new things and a
wonderful analizes of devotion.
Finally he wrote Prti-sandarbha to explain the prayojana-
tattva, or the purpose, the goal. That is prema or love of God
head, because in our Gaudiya-vaisnava sampradaya we don't consid
er only bhakti as the goal but prema. For us prema is beyond
bhakti.
These are the six sandarbhas. After analizing these things,
then he starts speaking about jivatattva and also speaks about
Mayavada. There are some nice logic statements in Tattva-
sandarbha to defeat impersonal philosophy although he does not go
into very much detail because in Tattva-sandarbha he just wants
to give like a gist. In one way Tattva-sandarbha is just a gist
of the sat-sandarbhas and then he expands this more in detail.
That is why it is called Tattva-sandarbha because it gives the
tattva of this philosophy. And also he establishes the philosophy
of acintya- bhedabeda in brief and he will explain it in more
detail in the Paramatma-sandarbha.
Srila Jiva Goswami himself also wrote a commentary on the
sat-sandarbhas. After writing the sat-sandarbhas he was not
satisfied so then he wrote a commentary which is called 'sarva-
samohadhi(?)'. This is even more philosophical then the sat-
sandarbhas. The language of the sat-sandarbhas is highly philo
sophical but this sarva-samohadhi (?) is even more difficult.
There he takes all the philosophies from Carvaka up to the phi
losophy of Madvacarya and Ramanujacarya and he finds defects in
all of them and then he establishes that the only philosophy
which is the highest, which is the heart of Srimad-Bhagavatam, is
"acintya beda-beda". Even though in Paramatma-sandarbha he men
tiones this acintya beda-beda concept, only in sarva-samohadhi he
makes it very clear that it is our main philosophical concept. In
the sandarbhas he defeats the mayavada philosophy but his style
is more mellow and from the point of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In sarva-
samohandi he speaks more like a scholar quoting many verses from
the Upanishads, he takes the statements of Sankaracarya and
defeats all of them.
Then he speaks about the function of Maya. She creates
illusion but she herself exists. Srila Jiva Goswami explains why
the Lord do not stop her from troubling the living entities and
he says because she is also a devotee and just as a criminal he
may be beaten in front of the King and the King has the power to
stop the person who is beating but he will not do it because the
punishment is good for the criminal. Maya does something good for 17
ð1771717173 17171717171717171717171717171717171717 17the living entity and the
Lord doesn't interfere with this. But
Maya herself does not like this job very much and thus she feels
ashamed to come in front of the Lord.
Then he explains a little more about abhidheya and prayoja
na and he analyzes the Gayatri-mantra because it is said that the
Srimad-Bhagavatam is beginning with the Gayatri-mantra. He takes
the first verse of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and he takes the first
line which is called the gayatri and he shows how this gayatri is
composed in the sloka form. And the reason he gives is that the
gayatri is generaly meant to be read by those who are twice
initiated, but this Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant to be read by
everyone, be he a sudra, a woman or lowest than that. He doesn't
write the gayatri in that explicit form but he puts the same
meaning, but to convey the idea that this is gayatri, he has kept
one word 'dhimahi'. This 'dhimahi' is the word which is always
chanted in gayatri, it cannot be dropped. This is like the symbol
to show that this is gayatri. Then he explains the meaning of
this gayatri which is not to worship the sun-god, Lord Siva or
Sakti but to worship Radha and Krsna. This also he propounds in
the Tattva-sandarbha and later on he expands it in Paramatmas-
sandarbha in more detail.
Finally he concludes the sandarbhas by explaining the 10
subjects which are explained in Bhagavatam. In those 10 subjects
the 10th one is the most important: it is the 'asraya'. He says
that all of the nine topics which are described in Srimad-
Bhagavatam are meant only to explain the 10th one. And this 10th
one is that which is explained in the 10th Canto.

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111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111Explanation on the "Sat-

In Indian philosophical system there are atheistic and theis

Tattva-sandarbha which is the smallest has two sections:

13bhaktiyogena manasi samyak pranihite 'male /

He sat down with fixed mind by using the process of bhakti-

You might also like

Sat Sandarbha Class

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sat Sandarbha Class

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

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Share this document

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Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

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Sat Sandarbha Class

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111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111Explanation on the "Sat-

In Indian philosophical system there are atheistic and theis

Tattva-sandarbha which is the smallest has two sections:

13bhaktiyogena manasi samyak pranihite 'male /

He sat down with fixed mind by using the process of bhakti-

You might also like

In Indian philosophical system there are atheistic and theis

He sat down with fixed mind by using the process of bhakti-