The glorious Bhāgavata is superior to all [śāstras].… It is indeed the representative embodiment (pratinidhi-rūpa) of Kṛṣṇa. As stated in the first book [of the Bhāgavata]: “Now that Kṛṣṇa has departed for his own abode (svadhāman) along with dharma, knowledge, and so on, this Purāṇa has risen like the sun for the sake of those who are bereft of sight in Kali Yuga.”307
Fashioning Devotional Bodies through Engaging the Bhāgavata
Jīva Gosvāmin’s assertion that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is the “representative embodiment” (pratinidhi-rūpa) of Kṛṣṇa on earth points to two principal functions of the text: as the śruti that represents Kṛṣṇa in that its semantic content comprises narratives about him, and as the śruti that embodies Kṛṣṇa in that it manifests him, disclosing Bhagavān’s living presence in the localized form of a text. Jīva’s claims regarding the special status of the Bhāgavata as Kṛṣṇa’s mesocosmic text-embodiment build on a pivotal notion articulated by Rūpa Gosvāmin in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu. As discussed earlier, Rūpa invests the Bhāgavata with the status of a “transmundane (alaukika) form” that is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa and is therefore capable of manifesting him on the gross material plane.308 The practices through which bhaktas engage the Śrīmad Bhāgavata are thus celebrated as means of directly engaging Kṛṣṇa’s living presence and catalyzing a psychophysical transformation in which the body of bondage is reconstituted as a body of devotion.
Rūpa recommends engaging Kṛṣṇa’s text-embodiment through “savoring (āsvāda) the meanings (artha) of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata with connoisseurs of rasa (rasikas)”—a practice that he singles out as one of the five practices of vaidhībhakti that is most effective for cultivating prema-rasa.309 Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, in his enumeration of these five practices in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta, reframes the means of engaging the Śrīmad Bhāgavata as simply Bhāgavata-śravaṇa, “hearing the Bhāgavata.”310 Jīva, in the Tattva Sandarbha and Bhakti Sandarbha, emphasizes the importance of engaging the Bhāgavata in both its oral-aural and written-visual forms as a means of cultivating an intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, whose presence is instantiated in the text. Jīva extols the merits of writing a copy of the Bhāgavata, placing this sovereign of all śāstras on a throne of gold, and presenting the book as a gift to a qualified person.311 However, he gives priority to engaging Kṛṣṇa’s text-avatāra in its oral-aural form through three modes of reception: through śravaṇa, hearing, and paṭhana, reciting, the Bhāgavata’s narrative and through pāna, drinking, its ambrosial nectar (amṛta or rasa).
Hearing and Reciting the Śrīmad Bhāgavata
Jīva recommends engaging the language-world of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa on the level of both śabda and artha, sound and meaning. In the Tattva Sandarbha he invokes a number of Purāṇic texts that emphasize the soteriological efficacy of engaging the Śrīmad Bhāgavata in its oral-aural form through hearing (root śru) the text recited and reciting (root paṭh) the text oneself. Recitation of the śabdas of the Bhāgavata that constitute Kṛṣṇa’s reverberating speech-form serves as a means of conjuring his living presence, for “wherever the Bhāgavata śāstra is in Kali Yuga, there Hari goes along with the gods.”312 Those who hear and recite the Bhāgavata imbibe the living presence of Kṛṣṇa, which yields an abundance of fruits (phala).
Bhaktas who recite every day even a single verse of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the most acclaimed of all śāstras, are promised the fruits (phala) of all eighteen Purāṇas.313 Among the specific fruits of such practices, those who hear the Bhāgavata daily and also recite the text themselves are promised an end to the cycle of birth and death.314 However, Jīva emphasizes that the liberating power of Bhāgavata-śravaṇa and Bhāgavata-paṭhana derives from the more fundamental fruit of such practices: bhakti, and more specifically bhakti in its fully mature expression as preman, all-consuming love for Kṛṣṇa. He invokes the canonical authority of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa itself in support of his claim: “By simply hearing (root śru) this [Bhāgavata Purāṇa], bhakti for the supreme Puruṣa Kṛṣṇa arises in a person, dispelling sorrow, delusion, and fear.”315 In commenting on this verse, Jīva glosses bhakti as preman and maintains that even the residual karmic impressions (saṃskāras) of sorrow, delusion, and fear, which are root causes of bondage, are destroyed by the preman that manifests through Bhāgavata-śravaṇa.
In this verse the word bhakti refers to preman, since this is the goal of sādhana-bhakti in the form of hearing (śravaṇa) [the Bhāgavata Purāṇa]. The word utpadyate, “arises,” means āvir-bhavati, “manifests.” The verse mentions an attendant virtue of this [manifestation of preman] with the phrase “dispelling sorrow, delusion, and fear,” which implies in this context that even their residual karmic impressions (saṃskāras) are destroyed. This is confirmed by the words of [the avatāra] Śrī Ṛṣabhadeva [in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa]: “As long as one has no love (prīti) for me, Vāsudeva, he will not be liberated (root muc) from identification with a body (deha).”316
Bhakti—and more specifically the bhakti-rasa of preman—is awakened in the hearts of practitioners through Bhāgavata-śravaṇa and Bhāgavata-paṭhana and is nourished through repeated immersion in Kṛṣṇa’s reverberating speech-form, culminating in attainment of the ultimate goal of human existence: realization of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent abode (pada).317
In the Bhakti Sandarbha Jīva discusses the role of Bhāgavata-śravaṇa and Bhāgavata-paṭhana in relation to the broader array of sādhana-bhakti practices associated with śravaṇa, hearing, and kīrtana, singing. In this context he shifts his focus from śabda to artha, from the mantric efficacy of the Bhāgavata’s sounds to the manifold meanings of its discursive content. Building on the insights of Rūpa in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, Jīva elaborates on the role of śravaṇa and kīrtana as means of engaging the world of Kṛṣṇa—and more specifically his names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), qualities (guṇas), and playful activities (līlās)—enshrined in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.318
Jīva defines śravaṇa as “contact of the ears with words (śabdas) pertaining to the names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), qualities (guṇas), and playful activities (līlās) [of Kṛṣṇa].”319 He provides a brief discussion of nāma-śravaṇa, hearing the names of Kṛṣṇa (section 248); rūpa-śravaṇa, hearing about Kṛṣṇa’s forms (section 249); and guṇa-śravaṇa, hearing about Kṛṣṇa’s qualities (sections 250–252). He then devotes the major portion of his analysis to līlā-śravaṇa, hearing about the līlā activities in which Kṛṣṇa engages with his eternal associates (parikaras) (sections 253–259), and Bhāgavata-śravaṇa, hearing the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (sections 260–262). Although Jīva concedes that hearing about any of these four aspects of Kṛṣṇa—names, forms, qualities, and līlā activities—in any order can lead to perfection, he recommends a specific progression of śravaṇa practices that correspond to progressive stages of manifestation of Kṛṣṇa in the bhakta’s awareness. The first phase of practice is nāma-śravaṇa, which purifies (root śudh) the heart. The second phase is rūpa-śravaṇa, by means of which the purified heart becomes fit for the manifestation (root i + ud) of Kṛṣṇa’s form. When Kṛṣṇa’s form is fully visible, the manifestation (root sphur) of his qualities ensues, which are savored through the third phase of practice, guṇa-śravaṇa. When the names, forms, and qualities of Kṛṣṇa have fully manifested (root sphur), his līlā spontaneously manifests (root sphur) in the bhakta’s awareness, which is the goal not only of līlā-śravaṇa but of the entire regimen of sādhana-bhakti.320
Jīva maintains that śravaṇa is most effective when the practitioner hears about the various aspects of Kṛṣṇa from great sages (mahats). He distinguishes in this context between two methods of hearing: hearing about Kṛṣṇa from literary works manifested (root bhū + āvir) by great sages, or hearing about his exploits through the recitations (root kīrt) of great sages.321 As an example of the first
method of hearing, he singles out the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, which he celebrates as the Mahāpurāṇa that was manifested (root bhū + āvir) through the agency of the renowned ṛṣi Vyāsa for the sole purpose of illuminating the play and display of the supreme Godhead in his manifold dimensions.322 In the final analysis Jīva proclaims Bhāgavata-śravaṇa to be the most efficacious (parama-śreṣṭha) form of śravaṇa because this sovereign of all śāstras is made of transcendent nectar (parama-rasa-maya) and its words (śabdas) are endowed with inherent glory (svābhāvika-māhātmya).323 He establishes a hierarchy of methods of śravaṇa, which culminates in the highest method: hearing the Śrīmad Bhāgavata sung (root kīrt) by great sages.
Hearing (śravaṇa) the names, forms, qualities, and līlā activities of Bhagavān is supremely auspicious. Superior to this is hearing [about Bhagavān from] literary works (prabandhas) manifested (root bhū + āvir) by great sages, and even greater than this is hearing such works sung (root kīrt) by great sages. Hearing the glorious Bhāgavata is superior even to this, especially when sung (root kīrt) by great sages.324
As in his discussion of śravaṇa, Jīva focuses his analysis of kīrtana on singing the names and singing about the forms, qualities, and līlā activities of Kṛṣṇa. He provides an extended analysis of nāma-kīrtana (sections 262–265), followed by brief discussions of rūpa-kīrtana (section 266), guṇa-kīrtana (section 267), and līlā-kīrtana (sections 268–269). After praising the special merits of kīrtana in Kali Yuga (sections 270–274), he concludes by extolling the unrivaled status of recitation of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as the most efficacious form of kīrtana in the present age (section 275).
Singing (root kīrt) the names, forms, qualities, and līlā activities [of Kṛṣṇa] contained in the glorious Bhāgavata is considered superior to singing (root kīrt) the names, forms, qualities, and līlā activities contained in other [śāstras]. In Kali Yuga this [Bhāgavata] is most acclaimed, as stated [in the Bhāgavata]: “Now that Kṛṣṇa has departed for his own abode (svadhāman) along with dharma, knowledge, and so on, this Purāṇa has risen like the sun for the sake of those who are bereft of sight in Kali Yuga.”325
Drinking the Bhāgavata’s Ambrosial Nectar
Jīva celebrates the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as an ocean of parama-rasa, transcendent nectar, that is amṛta, pure ambrosia. By engaging the words of the Bhāgavata through hearing (śravaṇa) and reciting (paṭhana) their sounds (śabda) and savoring (āsvāda) their meanings (artha), the bhakta transcends sound and meaning altogether and, plunging into the depths of the ocean, drinks (root pā) the Bhāgavata’s exhilarating nectar. Jīva invokes in this context the self-representations of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, which portrays itself as full of ambrosial nectar, amṛta or rasa, and more specifically as an “ocean of ambrosial nectar consisting of stories (kathāmṛta-nidhi) of Hari.”326
Jīva cites a pivotal prooftext from the Bhāgavata that is also cited by Rūpa in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu as an illustration of the practice of “savoring (āsvāda) the meanings (artha) of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata with connoisseurs of rasa (rasikas).”327
The Bhāgavata is the ripe fruit (phala) of the wish-fulfilling tree of Veda that is full of ambrosial nectar (amṛta).… O connoisseurs of rasa (rasikas), continually drink (root pā) this nectar (rasa) even after experiencing the joy of liberation.328
Jīva comments at length on this verse in his commentary on the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, and he also invokes this verse twice in the Bhakti Sandarbha as part of his analysis of the role of the Bhāgavata in śravaṇa. In commenting on this verse, he asserts that the Bhāgavata is rasa-rūpatva, completely made of rasa, nectar, which is identified more specifically as amṛta, pure ambrosia that is the elixir of immortality. Those rasikas, connoisseurs of rasa, who immerse their awareness in the ocean of Bhāgavata and drink (root pā) deeply its ambrosial nectar are filled with transcendent joy (parama-sukha).329
The transcendent joy of the rasikas derives from the very nature of this mesocosmic text-embodiment, which Jīva maintains is made of transcendent nectar (parama-rasa-maya) and serves as a means through which Kṛṣṇa’s living presence immediately manifests in the heart.330 Those who relish (root tṛp) the rasa of the Bhāgavata, which is amṛta, the elixir of immortality, are fully satiated and do not seek satisfaction elsewhere.
“The glorious Bhāgavata is considered to be the essence (sāra) of all the Upaniṣads. One who has relished (root tṛp) the ambrosial nectar of its rasa (rasāmṛta) does not find delight anywhere else.” The rasa of the Bhāgavata is indeed amṛta. This verse [from the Bhāgavata] refers to one who is satiated with that.331
Jīva establishes a direct connection between the rasa of the Bhāgavata and līlā-rasa, the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā. Plunging into the Bhāgavata, the “ocean of ambrosial nectar consisting of stories (kathāmṛta-nidhi) of Hari,”332 is considered the most expedient means to attain direct realization of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā that is recounted in these stories. The transcendent world of the līlā is itself represented as a “vast ocean of ambrosial nectar consisting of exploits (carita-mahāmṛtābdhi)” of Kṛṣṇa into which exalted bhaktas plunge (parivarta), reveling eternally in its inexhaustible supply of nectar.333 Jīva reminds us that the ṛṣi Vyāsa obtained his cognitions of the līlā through contemplative recollection (root smṛ + anu) of Kṛṣṇa’s exploits (viceṣṭita) while established in samādhi, after which he recorded his cognitions in the form of “this Purāṇa known by the name of Bhāgavata, which is equal to the Veda and contains the exploits (carita) of the illustrious Lord.”334 The implication of Jīva’s analysis is that bhaktas should engage the Śrīmad Bhāgavata, the record of the līlā, not only through śravaṇa, hearing, and paṭhana, recitation, but also, following the example of the paradigmatic sage Vyāsa, through the meditative practice of smaraṇa, contemplative recollection, in order to go beyond the bliss-bestowing stories and plunge into the transcendent world of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā that is accessible only through direct cognition.335
4 Nāman as Sound-Avatāra
From Transcendent Vibration to Reverberating Name
The early Gauḍīya authorities, in reflecting on the ontological status of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as a grantha-avatāra, an avatāra of Kṛṣṇa in the form of a text, built upon earlier formulations regarding the ontological status of the Vedas. Similarly, in developing a multileveled ontology of the nāman, name, they built upon and reimagined in significant ways the rich reflections on the nature of language, mantras, and nāmans found in an array of earlier traditions, including Vedic, Purāṇic, philosophical, yogic, tantric, and bhakti traditions.1 Gauḍīya constructions of nāman are particularly indebted to three theories of language—Vedic notions of mantra, Purāṇic formulations of mantra and nāman, and the Mīmāṃsaka philosophy of language—all of which take as their starting-point the axiomatic postulate that the paradigmatic language is the language of the Vedas. This language, which consists of four types of mantras—ṛcs (verses), yajuses (sacrificial formulae), sāmans (chants), and atharvans (incantations and imprecations)—is considered a natural language that is eternal and uncreated, not a conventional language created by human beings.
In Purāṇic cosmogonies this notion is represented by the mythological image of the Vedic mantras as the archetypal plan that the creator Brahmā recites at the beginning of each new kalpa in order to project the manifold forms of creation into concrete manifestation. Purāṇic cosmogonies regularly incorporate the following standardized description, quoted earlier in Chapter 3, of this archetypal plan of creation:
In the beginning he [Brahmā] formed, from the words (śabdas) of the Vedas alone, the names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), and functions (kṛtyas) of the gods and other beings. He also formed the names and appropriate offices of all the ṛṣis as heard (śruta) in the Vedas.2
This passage points to name, form, and function as the three fundamental aspects of created beings that have the
ir source in the Vedic mantras. (1) The Vedic mantras contain the names (nāmans) of all beings. These names are considered to be the natural names—not conventional designations—of the forms that they signify in that each name is the sound correlate that contains within it the subtle essence and structure of the form. Therefore the same names are assigned to the various classes of beings at the beginning of each new cycle of creation. (2) The forms (rūpas) of creation are brought forth through recitation of the names contained in the Vedic mantras. The form is considered to be already inherent in its natural name and thus represents a more precipitated, consolidated expression of that name. Therefore Brahmā need only recite the words of the Vedas in order to generate the corresponding forms of creation. (3) The words of the Vedic mantras also determine the functions (kṛtyas) of all beings in that the special character and function of each type of being is held to be contained in its name. For example, when Brahmā utters the word “sarpa” a type of serpent emerges whose nature is to “creep” (root sṛp) on the ground.3
The exponents of Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā, as discussed in Chapter 3, provide philosophical justification for the mythological portrayal of the Vedas as a cosmic plan by establishing that there is an inherent connection (autpattika sambandha) between the Vedic word (śabda) and its meaning (artha), between the name (nāman) and the form (rūpa) that it signifies. However, the Mīmāṃsakas do not invoke the image of the Vedas as the archetypal plan of creation because they argue that the world is beginningless and has no creator. Śaṃkara, in his re-visioning of the Mīmāṃsaka philosophy of language, argues that the eternality of the Vedic language is not incompatible with the existence of a creator, and in this context he explicitly invokes prooftexts from Vedic texts as well as from the Purāṇas and other smṛti texts to establish the Vedas’ role as the eternal plan, containing the natural names of all forms, that the creator employs at the beginning of each kalpa in order to fashion anew the various worlds and classes of beings in accordance with a fixed pattern.
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