288. Tattva Sandarbha 19.
289. The gāyatrī mantra is composed in the gāyatrī meter and consists of three lines (padas) of eight syllables each taken from Ṛg-Veda 3.62.10, preceded by the invocation “oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ.”
290. Tattva Sandarbha 19, citing Matsya Purāṇa 53.20; Tattva Sandarbha 20, citing Skanda Purāṇa 7.1.2.39.
291. Tattva Sandarbha 21–22.
292. See Tattva Sandarbha 19–20.
293. See Tattva Sandarbha 22.
294. Tattva Sandarbha 22.
295. Tattva Sandarbha 18.
296. Tattva Sandarbha 18, 23.
297. Tattva Sandarbha 19, 21.
298. Tattva Sandarbha 30–31, 47.
299. Tattva Sandarbha 21, commenting on the Garuḍa Purāṇa’s statement that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa contains the meaning of the Brahma-Sūtras. See also Tattva Sandarbha 19, 18. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, in Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.25.75–84, portrays Caitanya as the first to claim that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is a commentary on the Brahma-Sūtras. See Chilcott’s (2006: 83) analysis of Caitanya’s claim, which he argues is “the hermeneutical linchpin for establishing the Bhāgavata as the essence of the Vedas that explains the true import of the Upaniṣads and other Vedic texts.” Cf. Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.25.108–111.
300. Tattva Sandarbha 23–24.
301. Tattva Sandarbha 19.
302. Tattva Sandarbha 22.
303. Tattva Sandarbha 22.
304. Tattva Sandarbha 23.
305. Jīva Gosvāmin, when commenting in Tattva Sandarbha 22 on the Garuḍa Purāṇa’s assertion that the Bhāgavata is spoken directly by Bhagavān, invokes Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.13.19 as a prooftext.
306. In his discussions of Vyāsa’s role in dividing the one Veda into four Saṃhitās and in compiling the eighteen Purāṇas, Jīva Gosvāmin repeatedly emphasizes Vyāsa’s special status as a partial manifestation of Bhagavān. See especially Tattva Sandarbha 14–16.
307. Tattva Sandarbha 26, which includes a citation from Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.3.45.
308. Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.244.
309. Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.91; 1.2.226–227; 1.2.240; 1.2.210. See also 1.2.170–173; 1.2.145–148; 1.2.37; 1.2.178–181, in which Rūpa Gosvāmin discusses engaging the world of Kṛṣṇa that is enshrined in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa through hearing about (śravaṇa), singing about (kīrtana), and meditation on (dhyāna) his names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), qualities (guṇas), and playful activities (līlās, caritas, or krīḍās).
310. Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.22.74–75.
311. See Tattva Sandarbha 19, 20, 22, in which Jīva Gosvāmin cites prooftexts from several Purāṇas in support of this practice as well as the practice of keeping a copy of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in one’s home.
312. Tattva Sandarbha 22, citing Skanda Purāṇa 2.5.16.44. See also Bhakti Sandarbha 260.
313. Tattva Sandarbha 22, citing Skanda Purāṇa 2.5.16.33.
314. Tattva Sandarbha 20, citing an unidentified verse from the Padma Purāṇa.
315. Tattva Sandarbha 30, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.7.7.
316. Tattva Sandarbha 47, which includes a citation from Bhāgavata Purāṇa 5.5.6.
317. See Tattva Sandarbha 20, which cites an unidentified verse from the Skanda Purāṇa.
318. Jīva Gosvāmin provides an analysis of śravaṇa in Bhakti Sandarbha 248–262 and an analysis of kīrtana in 262–275. See also Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.170–173; 1.2.145–148; 1.2.37; 1.2.178–181, in which Rūpa Gosvāmin discusses hearing about (śravaṇa), singing about (kīrtana), and meditation on (dhyāna) the names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), qualities (guṇas), and playful activities (līlās, caritas, or krīḍās) of Kṛṣṇa.
319. Bhakti Sandarbha 248.
320. Bhakti Sandarbha 256.
321. Bhakti Sandarbha 256–259.
322. Bhakti Sandarbha 254, 256–257.
323. Bhakti Sandarbha 260–262.
324. Bhakti Sandarbha 262.
325. Bhakti Sandarbha 275, which includes a citation from Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.3.45.
326. Bhakti Sandarbha 259, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.29.41. Other relevant verses that Jīva Gosvāmin invokes from the Bhāgavata Puraṇa will be discussed subsequently.
327. Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.91.
328. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.1.3. This verse is cited by Rūpa Gosvāmin in Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.226. As I will discuss subsequently, Jīva Gosvāmin comments at length on this verse in his commentary on Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.226, and he also invokes this verse twice in his discussion of śravaṇa in Bhakti Sandarbha 250, 257. In addition, as mentioned earlier, he cites this verse in Tattva Sandarbha 24 in support of his arguments regarding the transcendent authority of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
329. Bhakti Sandarbha 250, 257; Jīva Gosvāmin’s commentary on Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu 1.2.226.
330. Bhakti Sandarbha 260, which includes a citation from Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.1.2.
331. Bhakti Sandarbha 261, commenting on Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.13.15.
332. Bhakti Sandarbha 259, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.29.41.
333. Bhakti Sandarbha 255, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.87.21. See also Bhakti Sandarbha 258, in which Jīva Gosvāmin comments on Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.29.40, which refers to bhaktas drinking (root pā) from “rivers (sarits) filled with nectar consisting of exploits (caritra-pīyūṣa)” of Kṛṣṇa.
334. Bhakti Sandarbha 254, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.5.13; Bhakti Sandarbha 256, citing Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.3.40.
335. Jīva Gosvāmin discusses the role of smaraṇa in attaining direct experience of Kṛṣṇa’s unmanifest līlā in Bhakti Sandarbha 278–279. As discussed briefly in Chapter 2, Jīva allots a pivotal role to smaraṇa and other meditative practices as means to attain the highest stages of realization in rāgānugā-bhakti. I will provide an extended treatment of these meditative practices in Chapter 6.
4 Nāman as Sound-Avatāra
1. Among studies of the nature of language, mantras, and names in various Vedic and post-Vedic traditions, see Gonda 1963a, 1970; Beck 1995, 2004; Holdrege 1996; Alper 1989; Biardeau 1964; Padoux 1986, 1990. See also the issues of the Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies on The Holy Name (1994) and on Kīrtan and Bhajan (2009). For additional references, see nn. 4–5, 51.
2. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.5.62–63. As mentioned in Chapter 3, this passage appears with slight variations in Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa 48.42–43; Kūrma Purāṇa 1.7.64–65; Liṅga Purāṇa 1.70.257–259; and Śiva Purāṇa Vāyavīya 1.12.67–69. See also the parallel passages in Manu-Smṛti 1.21 and Mahābhārata 12.224.56, with n. 672*.
3. See, for example, Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.5.42–45.
4. It should be noted that although the terms mantra and Saṃhitā are often used interchangeably, they are not entirely synonymous, as the Taittirīya Saṃhitā (Black Yajur-Veda) contains, in addition to mantras, some Brāhmaṇa material discussing the sacrificial ceremonies. For discussions of Vedic conceptions of mantra, see Gonda 1963a; Staal 1989; Wheelock 1989; Findly 1989.
5. For a brief analysis of the terminology used to designate the Vedic mantras, see Holdrege 1996: 30–32.
6. Gonda 1963a: 255.
7. For analyses of the Ṛg-Veda’s treatment of the mechanisms of Vedic cognition, see Holdrege 1996: 229–237; Gonda 1963b.
8. The term tapas refers in the present context to the meditative practice through which the ṛṣis attained their cognitions of the Vedic mantras. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 8.59.6; 10.109.4; 10.154.5.
9. For a discussion of the nature and function of the heart in the Ṛg-Veda and later Indian texts, see Gonda 1963b: 276–288. On the basis of his analysis of relevant verses in the Ṛg-Veda, Gonda (1963b: 281) shows that the heart is “the place where inspiration is received and from which sacred speech originates.”
10. Ṛg-Veda 1.164.39.
11. For a discussion of the terms dhī, dhīti, man�
�ṣā, and related terms used in the Ṛg-Veda to refer to the cognitions of the ṛṣis, see Gonda 1963b: 51–56, 68–225. For an analysis of the synesthetics of Vedic cognition, see Holdrege 1996: 229–237.
12. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 1.37.4; 3.18.3; 4.43.1; 7.34.1; 7.34.9; 7.97.3; 8.27.13; 10.176.2.
13. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 10.61.7; 10.88.8; 7.97.3.
14. Ṛg-Veda 4.11.2–3.
15. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 1.40.5.
16. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 10.50.4, in which the deity Indra is called the “preeminent (jyeṣṭha) mantra.”
17. See, for example, Ṛg-Veda 10.130.4–5. Cf. Taittirīya Saṃhitā 5.2.4.1, in which the body of Agni is identified with the meters.
18. Ṛg-Veda 2.35.2. For a discussion of relevant verses, see Holdrege 1996: 234–237; Gonda 1963b: 276–283.
19. Ṛg-Veda 1.143.1.
20. Gonda 1963b: 39. For Gonda’s analysis of the various occurrences of the term vipra in the Ṛg-Veda, see 1963b: 36–40.
21. For a discussion of relevant verses, see Holdrege 1996: 236–237.
22. Among the numerous examples, see Ṛg-Veda 1.10.5; 1.91.11; 2.11.2; 2.12.14; 2.39.8; 3.32.13; 3.34.1–2; 4.32.12; 5.11.5; 5.22.4; 5.31.4; 5.31.10; 6.44.13; 7.19.11; 8.6.1; 8.6.11–12; 8.6.21; 8.6.31; 8.6.35; 8.8.8; 8.13.16; 8.14.5; 8.14.11; 8.44.2; 8.44.12; 8.44.22; 8.62.4; 8.74.1; 8.74.8–9; 8.93.27; 8.95.6–7; 8.98.8; 9.73.2; 10.4.7; 10.63.17.
23. Ṛg-Veda 6.44.13.
24. Ṛg-Veda 8.8.8.
25. Ṛg-Veda 1.91.11.
26. Regarding the role of the yajña in the process of creation, see Ṛg-Veda 10.90; 10.130; 10.81.1; 10.81.5–6; 10.82.1.
27. Ṛg-Veda 10.90.16; 10.90.9.
28. Ṛg-Veda 10.130.2; 10.130.4–7.
29. For a discussion of relevant passages, see Holdrege 1996: 54–55. For an extended analysis of the cosmogonic role of yajña as an “instrument of cosmic healing and construction” in the Brāhmaṇas, see Smith 1989: 50–81.
30. The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa identifies the creator Prajāpati with the hotṛ priest, while the Pañcaviṃśa and Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇas associate him with the udgātṛ priest. See, for example, Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 2.15; 2.16; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 6.4.1; 6.5.18; 7.10.16; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.70; 1.85; 1.88; 1.259; cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.3.2.3.
31. Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 25.6.2; 25.17.2.
32. See, for example, Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 4.23; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 6.15; 5.3; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.5.1.17; 2.5.2.1; 2.5.2.7; 2.6.3.4; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 6.1.1–2; 8.5.6; 4.1.4; 22.9.2; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.67.
33. This formula is frequently repeated in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. See, for example, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.2.4.16; 4.5.5.1; 4.5.6.1; 4.5.7.1. See also Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.5.1.17; Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 2.33; 4.23.
34. See also the variant of this passage, Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 6.9.15.
35. See also Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.99; cf. 1.104; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 7.5.1; 7.5.4.
36. With respect to the recitation of specific ṛcs or sāmans for particular purposes, see, for example, Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 7.10.13–17; 7.5.1–3; 13.5.13; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.148; 1.160; 1.116; 1.117–118. With respect to the performance of specific sacrificial rituals to obtain particular ends, see Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 5.3; 12.8; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 4.1.4–5; 6.1.1–3; 6.3.9–10; 22.9.2–3.
37. For an analysis of relevant passages, see Holdrege 1996: 56–62. For an extended study of the taxonomies of the Brāhmaṇas, see B. Smith 1994: esp. 287–313.
38. See, for example, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 8.7.4.5.
39. The three vyāhṛtis are at times directly identified with the three Vedas. See, for example, Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 2.9.7; 3.18.4. However, they are more often described as their essences. See Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 5.32; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 6.10–11; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.8.1–4; Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 1.5.7; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.357–358; 1.363–364; Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.1.2–5; 1.23.6; 3.15.8–9.
40. Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.1.1–5. See also Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 1.5.7; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.1.6.3; 2.1.4.11–13.
41. Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 1.5.7; Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.23.6–8. Regarding the threefold Veda as full of rasa, see Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.8.1–5; 3.19.2–5.
42. Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.23.6–7. See also Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 5.32, in which the three constituent sounds (varṇas) of the syllable Om—a, u, and m—are represented as the essences of the three vyāhṛtis.
43. Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.322; 1.336; Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.8.1–10; 3.19.2–7; 1.1.6; 1.18.10; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 6.12. However, see Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 1.23.6–1.24.2, in which Prajāpati succeeds in pressing the syllable Om, and its essence (rasa) flows forth (root kṣar) and is not exhausted (root kṣi). Hence Om is called akṣara and akṣaya.
44. Regarding Vedic conceptions of the relationship between nāman and rūpa, name and form, see Coomaraswamy’s definitions: “the forms, ideas, similitudes, or eternal reasons of things (nāma, ‘name’ or ‘noumenon’ = forma) and the things themselves in their accidental and contingent aspects (rūpa, ‘phenomenon’ = figura)” (1936: 44). See also Falk’s characterization of nāman as “the inherent, unsensuous essence of the thing to which it belongs” (1943: 16). For an extended study of Vedic notions of nāman, see Gonda 1970.
45. For an analysis of the strategies deployed by the Upaniṣadic sages in recasting the category of Veda in accordance with their monistic perspective, see Holdrege 1996: 62–70.
46. Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.4–5.
47. Taittirīya Upaniṣad 1.8; Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.16; Praśna Upaniṣad 5.2; Maitri Upaniṣad 6.5; 6.22–23. See also Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 12, in which Om is identified with Ātman.
48. Maitri Upaniṣad 6.22–23.
49. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 2.23.2–3.
50. Maitri Upaniṣad 6.22; cf. 6.23–26; 6.28. Among other passages that recommend using the syllable Om as a vehicle in meditation, see Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.2.4; 2.2.6; Praśna Upaniṣad 5.1–7; Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 1.13–14.
51. For discussions of the role of mantras in various aspects of Indian thought and practice, see the collection of essays edited by Alper (1989), which contains an extensive bibliographic essay. See also Gonda 1963a; Dasgupta 1957; Wayman 1975; Padoux 1986, 1990: 372–426; Beck 1995; Coward and Goa 2004.
52. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.6.37–44.
53. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.1.1.
54. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.12.34; 3.12.37; cf. 12.6.44.
55. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.9.24.
56. I will provide a brief analysis of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s representations of mantra meditation in Chapter 6.
57. The nine forms of bhakti to Viṣṇu are enumerated in Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.5.23–24 as hearing about him (śravaṇa), singing about him (kīrtana), remembering him (smaraṇa), serving his feet (pāda-sevana), worshiping him (arcana), praising him (vandana), service to him (dāsya), friendship with him (sakhya), and offering one’s self to him (ātma-nivedana).
58. Among passages that mention the triad of hearing (root śru), singing (root kīrt), and contemplative recollection (root smṛ), see, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 2.1.5; 2.2.36; 2.4.15; 3.33.6; 5.8.29; 7.11.11. Regarding the triad of hearing (root śru), singing (root kīrt), and meditation (root dhyā or cint), see, for example, 1.2.14; 10.70.43; 12.3.46; 10.90.50.
59. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.3.21–22. While in 6.3.21–22 the Bhāgavata emphasizes the special status of singing the divine names as the defining practice of bhakti-yoga, in 3.29.14–19 it includes nāma-saṃkīrtana among a broader list of practices that are important for the cultivation of bhakti-yoga. Regarding Bhāgavata dharma, see also 6.2.20; 6.2.24. This dharma is expounded by the messengers of Viṣṇu to the messengers of Yama in the account of Ajāmila in 6.1.2
0–6.3.35, which I will discuss later.
60. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.5.32; 11.5.36–38; 12.3.44; 12.3.51–52.
61. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.3.51–52. Variants of 12.3.51–52 are found in Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.2.17; Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Uttara 71.24–25; Bṛhannāradīya Purāṇa 38.97.
62. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.5.32.
63. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.33.6–8. For additional references regarding dog-eaters and other outcastes, see n. 69.
64. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.2.7–19; 6.2.38; 6.3.24; 6.3.26; 6.3.31–32; 5.25.11; 10.34.17; 11.28.40; 12.13.23. Regarding the purifying power of kīrtana generally, without explicit reference to the divine names, see 1.2.17–18; 2.4.15; 6.13.8; 9.3.34; 10.70.43; 12.3.46.
65. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.2.9–12; 6.2.16–17; 6.3.31–32.
66. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.2.9–12.
67. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.3.45–46; 12.3.48; cf. 1.2.17.
68. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.9.23; 6.2.45–46; 6.3.23–24; 6.16.44; 7.7.34–36; 11.5.36–37; 12.3.44; 12.3.51.
69. In addition to Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.33.6–7, cited earlier, see 6.13.8; 10.70.43; 6.16.44. See also 3.16.6; 7.9.10; 11.14.21, which extol the power of bhakti to elevate dog-eaters from their impure status as outcastes. For an analysis of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s socially inclusive model, see Hopkins 1966.
70. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.2.14–15; 6.2.18–19; cf. 6.2.7–8; 5.25.11; 12.3.44.
71. For the story of Ajāmila, see Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.1.20–6.3.35.
72. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.2.39–40; 11.2.42; cf. 2.3.24.
73. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.7.34–36.
74. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.2.11.
75. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.15.17. For a discussion of the Bhāgavata’s representations of kīrtana as both a means to an end (sādhana) and an end in itself (sādhya), see Edelmann 2009.
76. Hein 1976: 28.
77. For a selection of passages pertaining to divine names from a range of Gauḍīya sources, see Delmonico 2007. For a brief overview of the perspectives of five of the “six Gosvāmins of Vṛndāvana”—Sanātana Gosvāmin, Rūpa Gosvāmin, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmin, Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmin, and Jīva Gosvāmin—on kīrtana, see Broo 2009.
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