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Brahma Samhita (Jiva Goswami commentary)

by Srila Narayana Maharaja | 2003 | 90,927 words | ISBN-10: 8175050063

This page relates ‘Feelings of appreciation� of the English translation of the Brahma Samhita including the Tika commentary by Srila Jiva Goswami as well as the Tatparya commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The Brahma Samhita is a revered Sanskrit Pancharatra text featuring prayers by Brahma that glorify Krishna, highly valued in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Feelings of appreciation

śī śī guru-gaurāṅgau jayata�

It is common knowledge that Śī 󳾲-ṃh was not propagated in India prior to its being collected by Śī Gaurasundara. Rather, the literary composition that had been widely popularized throughout the nation was Śīmad-岵ٲ, the ٱٲ-ṃh (compilation for those in pure goodness) that was previously spoken in ṣārṇy. The word brahma means both �Veda� and also “the factual substance or reality established by the Vedas,� which is none other than the Supreme Personality and Enjoyer, Śī ṛṣṇa, or Śī Govinda. The understanding of the word 貹ܰṣeⲹ (“not of human origin,� or “divine�) is considered marginal if the word is used to confound the mundane conception by eliminating the irrelevant (�neti neti�), but does not refer to the Supreme Personality and Enjoyer, Śī ṛṣṇa.

Śī Caturmukha discarded mundane considerations from within the Vedas, which are called 貹ܰṣeⲹ (of divine origin), and then described in a ṃh (compilation) of one hundred chapters whatever essence of pure bhakti he had been holding in his heart in connection with the Supreme Enjoyer. Among those chapters, this Fifth Chapter is most worshipable for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas because it is extremely practical and advantageous for the living entity. Especially from the point of view of the Śī Brahma , the factual substance of reality has been revealed in the four original verses of Śīmad-岵ٲ by the mercy of 󲹲.

The Supreme Personality can never be included in the category of insignificant worldly material enjoyers. The distinction between the two is that the Supreme Personality Śī ṛṣṇa is the absolute controller of all predominated potencies, whereas the individual living entity is completely bound by the Lord’s potencies. Thus, the word 貹ܰṣeⲹ (not of mundane origin), is applied to Śī ṛṣṇa from the perspective of the conditioned living entity (ܰṣa) who tries to conceive of Him who is beyond material existence.

It is stated in the first verse of the Śīmad-岵ٲ:

जन्माद्यस्� यतोऽन्वयाद� इतरतश् चार्थेष्व् अभिज्ञ� स्वराट�
&न्ब्स्प्; तेने ब्रह्म हृदा � आद�-कवये मुह्यन्त� यत� सूरय�
तेजो-वारि-मृदा� यथ� विनिमय� यत्र त्रि-सर्गोऽमृषा
&न्ब्स्प्; धाम्ना स्वे� सद� निरस्त-कुहक� सत्य� पर� धीमह�

janmādyasya yato'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv ñ�
  tene brahma ṛd ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūraya�
tejo--ṛd� yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo'ṛṣ
  dhāmnā svena nirasta-ܳ󲹰첹� ٲⲹ� 貹� ī

Śīmad-岵ٲ (1.1.1)

I meditate upon Śī ṛṣṇa, who is the Absolute Truth and the original cause of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the mundane universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent, because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of jī, the original living being. By Him even great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Śī ṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.

The transcendental abode () referred to here is categorically distinct from any material location. The word means “shelter� and also �light.� One cannot see without light, and this verse confirms that the basis of illumination is a Person who is the object of worship, and is seen by the very same light. The foundation of illumination, the Supreme Transcendental Enjoyer Śī ṛṣṇa, exists splendidly and eternally along with His paraphernalia in the supramundane that lies beyond all comprehension of the conditioned souls who are entangled in transitory relationships within the material nature.

In the impersonal conception, the seer and the seen are ultimately considered to be one. This conception has arisen on the basis of the experience of limitation and incompleteness in the mundane realm, but this experience is irrelevant. The deluding material potency cannot disable her own controller, վṣṇ, who is the Supreme Lord of ղṇṭ and equipped with immeasurable power. The impersonal conception, which is thoroughly mundane, has been ousted entirely by the considerations described in the Fifth Chapter of this treatise.

The trend of thought presented in 󳾲-ṃh is worthy of our profound investigation. We should therefore distance ourselves from the mundane point of view, in which scriptural descriptions of instrumental and ingredient causes may be considered to be indecent. This scripture was not contrived for the sake of delighting the minds of crude persons through vulgar devices. Rather, it has manifested for the purpose of infusing spiritual strength into the hearts of those who are debilitated by the onslaught of their own perverse inclinations.

The doctrine of the worship of five deities[1] was created as a result of a distorted vision of the substance of Godhead. This incorrect vision arose from the predominant pursuit of four conceptions, namely ordinary religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. The five concluding verses of 󳾲-ṃh convey this point clearly and meticulously, and also elucidate the genuine philosophy concerning the substance of Godhead. By the grace of ܻ岹śԲ (the original auspicious vision of 󲹲), one may acquire eternal wisdom through careful study of these verses. The attainment of such wisdom renders one entirely devoid of antagonism towards the conception of Śī Dhāma (the spiritual abode, full of all transcendental opulence). This antagonism is manifest as the tendency to propagate the defective philosophy that the Absolute Truth is formless and impersonal.

By good fortune one may be acquainted with the unique qualities of the self-effulgent transcendental abode that lies beyond ٱī-峾 and Ѳś-峾. That abode is nirasta-kuhaka, devoid of the darkness of nescience. The affairs of transcendence lie beyond material nature, and there is no room for the relative deception of the mundane world in that realm of eternal joy. It is for this reason that the treatise describing this transcendental phenomenon is called Apauruṣeya-ṃh.

Human beings whose hearts are polluted can be delivered from the tendency to enjoy inert matter by the power of the process of devotional service in practice (󲹲Բ-󲹰پ). It is impossible for those who are ensnared in mundane sense enjoyment to take shelter of pure devotion. Such persons are only fit to undergo distress while being confined to the field of fruitive activities in the material world. The living entity’s lusty desires for material enjoyment can only be dispelled by singing the glories of 峾𱹲, the transcendental Cupid. However, if one equates this excellent 峾𱹲 with the inferior mundane lust, one will suffer an adverse effect instead of deriving benefit.

Our recitation of 󳾲-ṃh will be considered successful when we become the followers of Caturmukha and attain the mercy of 󲹲, and when we can become the receptacles of love of God through singing these divine hymns in praise of Śī ṛṣṇa. At that time we will be able to understand that Śī -Govinda, the embodiments of sweet human-like pastimes, exist in the form of Śī Gaurasundara. Śī Gaurasundara resides in the most elevated realm of service to the genuine supreme predominating enjoyer, who possesses all opulence.

In the lower half of Goloka, two-and-a-half rasas (devotional mellows) are present in relation to Śī Nārāyaṇa. Ѳś-峾 lies below this, and below that again lies ٱī-峾, the mundane realm that consists of fourteen planetary systems. The residents of ٱī-峾, who are wandering throughout the universe, attain withdrawal of their material desires in Ѳś-峾. The conception of desirelessness that can be attained in Ѳś-峾 eternally shines forth through the myriad variety of services available in the transcendental abode. That resplendent myriad of services is embodied in this 󳾲-ṃh which describes the fifth and ultimate goal of human existence, namely the ultimate limit of the nectar of love for Śī Śī -Govinda. Śī Gaurasundara exhibited the extent of His magnanimity in His pastime of bestowing śī ṛṣṇa-𳾲, by collecting that nectar and personally distributing it to the souls of this world.

Śī Գٲ ī

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

ūⲹ, Ҳṇeś, Ś, ٳܰ and վṣṇ are worshiped together in the system known as 貹ñDZ.

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