BY: SUN STAFF
Dec 18, CANADA (SUN) —
Tattva Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION TWENTY-TWO
Similarly, the Srimad Bhagavatam, Third Canto, states: "Your friend, the great sage Krishna-dvaipayana Vyasa, desiring to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord spoke the Mahabharata, in which the whole idea is to draw the attention of the mass of people to Krishna-katha through their strong affinity for hearing mundane topics." (SB. 3.5.12)
In the section giving explanations of Gayatri, the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana (165th. chapter, Prathama Khanda) explains in detail that it is the Supreme Lord who is the object of meditation in the Gayatri mantra and thus a similar explanation will be given on the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam. Thus it was said, "It functions as a commentary on Gayatri." Vedarthah paribrimhitah means that the Bhagavatam fortifies and expands the meaning of the Vedas. Thus it was also said that one should "supplement the Vedas with the Itihasas and Puranas". (M.Bh. Adi Parva 1.267). And, "It is the Samaveda of the Puranas", meaning that just as the Samaveda is supreme among the Vedas, so the Srimad Bhagavatam is supreme among the Puranas.
Therefore the Skanda Purana states, "In Kali-yuga, of what value are collections of hundreds of thousands of other scriptures, if one does not keep the Srimad Bhagavatam in his house? In Kali-yuga, how can a person be considered a vaishnava if the Srimad Bhagavatam does not find a place in his house? Even if he is a brahmana, he is to be considered lower than a dog-eater. O Vipra, Narada, wherever is the Srimad Bhagavatam in Kali-yuga, the Lord goes there along with the demigods. O muni, a person who faithfully recites a verse of Srimad Bhagavatam every day attains the fruit of reading the eighteen Puranas". (Skanda Purana, 2.5.16. 40-42, 44, 33)
Sata-viccheda-samyutah indicates that the Bhagavatam has three hundred and thirty-five chapters. The meaning of the rest is clear. Thus it is concluded that in Kali-yuga those desiring to know the highest Truth should deliberate only upon the Srimad Bhagavatam.
In the Caturvarga Cintamani, Vrata Khanda, Hemadri quotes the following Bhagavatam verse (1.28):
"Out of compassion, the great sage thought it wise that this would enable men to achieve the ultimate goal of life. Thus he compiled the great historical narration called the Mahabharata for women, laborers, and friends of the twice born, because they do not have access to the Vedas". (SB.1.4.25)
By quoting this verse Hemadri proves that the Mahabharata is equal to the Vedas in purpose, and thus the implicit meaning of the phrase "it determines the Mahabharata", is that the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam determines the meaning of Mahabharata, which is equal to the Vedas. Further, the phrase "based on the Gayatri", indicates that since the Srimad Bhagavatam deals only with the Supreme Lord, it is considered a commentary on Gayatri, which is only about the Lord.
Therefore it is stated: 'It is based on Gayatri..." In accordance with this idea, there is a detailed exposition of the Gayatri mantra in the Agni Purana, a summary of which is quoted below:
"That light is called the Supreme Lord, because the word bhargas (in Gayatri ) means effulgence, which is indicative of the consciousness". (Agni Purana 216.3)
After this Agni said:
"That effulgence is Lord Vishnu, who is the cause of the creation, maintenance, and dissolution. Some people apply the purport of Gayatri to Siva, some to Sakti, some apply it to the sun and others to Agni. The Agnihotri Brahmanas worship various demigods by chanting Gayatri, but it is Lord Vishnu who exists in the form of the demigods like Agni and in the Vedas He is called Brahman". (Agni Purana 216.7,8).
Later on it will be demonstrated that the opening verse of Srimad Bhagavatam, beginning with Janmadyasya has the same import as Gayatri (namely the worship of Lord Vishnu or Krishna). Also, in the concluding verse of the Bhagavatam, beginning with the phrase kasmai yena, by the word tacchuddham the same import of the Gayatri is conveyed. As explained in the Agni Purana:
"For liberation, let us meditate on the Supreme Brahman, who is eternal, pure, transcendental, always effulgent, and the Supreme Controller, thinking ourselves to be that illuminating Param Brahman". (Agni Purana 216.6)
Here the consciousness of thinking oneself one with Brahman is to attain the qualification to worship the Lord based on the principle, "One who is not godly himself should worship God." The verb, dhyayema, signifies that "I and all of us should meditate".
But according to the Agni Purana, the word bhargas in Gayatri should be ending with the syllable 'a'. It should be bharga. This irregularity can be explained as an instance of the type given in the Panini sutra, supam suluka (Ast. 7.1.39) where the suffix am of a singular accusative case is replaced with su.
In the prose section, beginning with om namaste, in the Twelfth Canto of Bhagavatam (12.6. 67-69), the Sun has been praised as the object of worship in Gayatri. This should be taken as praise of the Supersoul residing within the Sun and not praise of the sun alone. In this way there is no confusion in understanding.
Later on, this is affirmed in the statements of Saunaka Rishi, "O Suta, kindly explain to us who are full of faith, the glory of Lord Hari's incarnation, who is the Supersoul within the Sun". (SB.12.11.28).
Thus the word bhargas, or the effulgence mentioned in Gayatri, should not be restricted only to the controller of the sun globe, because the word varenya (transcendental) in Gayatri and the word para in the first and final verses of the Bhagavatam refer to the transcendental opulence (of the Supreme Lord) in its ultimate sense.
Thus it is also said in the Agni Purana: "One may also meditate on the Supreme Lord within the sun (but the sun itself is impermanent). The ultimate destination is the abode of Lord Vishnu, which alone is eternal, all-auspicious, and absolute". (Agni Purana 216.16)
The meaning is that the Personality of Godhead can also be meditated upon as dwelling within the sun globe as the supersoul, where He manifests so that the inhabitants of the universe may worship Him. The sun itself will be destroyed during the dissolution, but the abode of Lord Vishnu, maha-vaikuntha, exists in the past, present, and future, satyam, or free from all disturbance, and sadasivam, because it has the same transcendental nature as the Lord, Brahman.
After explaining Gayatri, the Agni Purana, in the section dealing with the characteristics of Puranas is the verse beginning with yatra adhikritya gayatrim. "The Agni Purana explains that the meaning of Gayatri mantra solely concerns the Lord, who is the source of the universe, its maintenance, and dissolution. The Srimad Bhagavatam is characterized with the phrase 'based on Gayatri' and is thus ever glorious all over the earth."
These verses show that Srimad Bhagavatam begins with the Gayatri mantra. The meaning of the statement made earlier that the Bhagavatam narrates the activities during the Sarasvata Kalpa is befitting, because Sarasvati is the Goddess of speech, who glorifies the Lord, and the essence of Gayatri is the Lord's glorification. Thus it is stated in the Agni Purana, "Because it sings (gayati) or illuminates the Vedic mantras, the scriptures, the Supreme Lord and the intelligence it is called Gayatri. Because it illuminates the meaning of Savita, the creator it is called Savitri. It is called Sarasvati because it represents the essence of speech". (Agni Purana 216. 1,2).
Now the explanation of the terms will be given (in order of the verses of the Garuda Purana quoted in the previous section). The phrase vedarthah paribrimhitah means that Srimad Bhagavatam fortifies and expands the meaning of the Vedas. Thus it was also said , "One should supplement the Vedas with the Itihasas and Puranas", (M.Bh. Adi Parva 1.267) and "It is the Samaveda of the Puranas" implying that just as the Samaveda is considered the supreme Veda, so the Srimad Bhagavatam is the supreme Purana.
The idea is that just as the Samaveda reconciles the meaning of the three sections of the Vedas--karma kanda, jnana kanda, and upasana kanda--in the glorification of the Supreme Lord, similarly the Bhagavatam gives the essence of all the Puranas, harmoniously, as worship of the Lord alone, although some of the Puranas sometimes do not seem to promote the worship of the Lord, but worship in the modes of passion and ignorance.
Thus it is said, "In the Vedas, Ramayana, Puranas and in the Mahabharata, everywhere, in the beginning, middle, and end, Lord Hari has been glorified" (Harivamsha Purana). This is proven in Paramatma Sandarbha.
The meaning of sakshad-bhagavatodita, "emanated directly from the Lord," is to be understood from the concluding verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam, "We meditate upon the Supreme Lord, who revealed this Srimad Bhagavatam to Lord Brahma" (SB. 12.13.19).
The compound word, sata-viccheda-samyuta, "It contains hundreds of divisions or chapters" will not be explained here due to fear of unnecessarily increasing the size of the book.
The Srimad Bhagavatam has thus been shown to be the emperor of all other scriptures and thus Sridhara Svami's explanation of the phrase, hemasimha samanvitam (lit. along with a golden lion) as "mounted on a golden throne" is most appropriate.
Therefore, the Skanda Purana establishes the need for constant study and the superiority of only the Srimad Bhagavatam: "What need is there to accumulate hundreds of other scriptures?" (Skanda Purana, Vishnu Khanda, 5.16.40)
Thus it is established without any doubt that at present those who desire to know the Absolute Truth should deliberate upon the Srimad Bhagavatam alone.
Sri Jiva Toshani Commentary
In the previous section, Srila Jiva Gosvami quoted three verses from the Garuda Purana. The first of the three was explained in that section and now he explains the other two.* He first quotes Bhagavatam verse (3.5.12), and then (1.4.25), which also appears in Hemadri's Caturvarga-cintamani, an authoritative 13th century work on Dharma-sastra, on such subjects as vrata, charity, Shraddha, kala, and so on. Jiva Gosvami's intention in quoting these verses is to show that the Mahabharata is equal to the Vedas. In this part of Caturvarga Cintamani, Hemadri raises a question about the salvation of those who are not twice-born, because they do not have access to the Vedas, which give knowledge about Brahman, which is requisite for salvation. In answer he quotes Srimad Bhagavatam (1.4.25), which explains that Veda Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata to solve this problem.
The first of the two Bhagavatam verses (3.5.12) also implies that Srila Vyasa compiled the Mahabharata to attract the mind of the common man towards the Lord by enticing him to listen to mundane stories, though his ulterior motive is to explain the glories of the Personality of Godhead. That is the reason he included the Bhagavad-gita in the Mahabharata. Since the Mahabharata is considered equal to the Vedas in purpose, as is evident from the second verse (SB. 1.4.25) and also accepted by Hemadri in this way, then the Vedas are also about the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
That being the case, the Gayatri mantra, which represents the essence of the Vedas, must be related to the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. It is with this understanding that the Skanda Purana says the Srimad Bhagavatam, which glorifies the Lord at every step, is based on Gayatri. Indeed this is one of the distinctive characteristics of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
In the Paramatma Sandarbha, Srila Jiva Gosvami gives an analysis of the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam as being an explanation of Gayatri. In the concluding verses of the Bhagavatam also, Gayatri has been explained and from those verses it is clear that the purpose is to explain the Personality of Godhead.
The prevalent understanding among Vedic scholars, is that Gayatri is for worshiping the sun-god or impersonal Brahman; but Srila Jiva Gosvami here establishes that the real meaning of Gayatri is worship of Lord Vishnu, who is non-different from Lord Krishna. In support he quotes the Agni Purana, giving the opinion of Srila Vyasa on the Gayatri. In the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 165 chapter, Prathama Khanda, King Vajra asks Markandeya Rishi that if Gayatri's presiding deity is the Sun god, why is it chanted in a Vaishnava sacrifice? Markandeya replied that Gayatri refers to Lord Vishnu and he explained the meanings of the words of Gayatri as related to Lord Vishnu. His explanation concludes with this verse:
"A person desiring material gains or attainment of heaven in the next life achieves it by chanting Gayatri; but the worshiper devoid of all desires attains the supreme abode of Lord Vishnu." It would be not possible to attain the Lord's abode by meditation on Gayatri if its real meaning were not related with Vishnu, in keeping with the explanation in Bhagavad-gita (9.25), where the Supreme Lord says "My worshiper attains Me". From this it is evident that Gayatri and the first verse of the Bhagavatam are in complete agreement, because they are both meditations on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The same is true for the verse of the Agni Purana, which commands us to meditate on Brahman as non-different from ourselves. This is to be understood as an indication of our spiritual nature. The purpose of such meditation is to remove our bodily attachment, which is a neccessary step in worshiping the Lord. A detailed explanation of the oneness of the jiva brahman with the spiritual nature of the Supreme Brahman is given in the forthcoming sections.
In the Twelfth Canto, sixth chapter, of the Bhagavatam, Yajnavalkya recites prayers in praise of the sun of which verses 67, 68, and 69 are explanations of the three legs of the Gayatri mantra. From these prayers it appears that Gayatri is also meant to glorify the sun-god, but Srila Jiva Gosvami clarifies this by explaining that this is not independent worship of the sun-god, because Yajnavalkya is actually worshiping the Supersoul dwelling within the sun-god, by considering the resident and residence as non-different. Generally people hail a taxi driver as "Taxi!" and not "Taxi driver", owing to the idea of oneness between the driver and his taxi. Jiva Gosvami's explanation is substantiated by the statements of Sri Saunaka (S.B. 12.11.28), in which he explicitly asks "to hear about Lord Hari, the Supersoul of the Sun".
It is the custom of brahmanas to chant the Gayatri while facing the sun at dawn and at dusk. This is a facility provided to meditate on the Supreme Lord through His energies based on the principle of candra-sakha-nyaya, or the example of the branch and the Moon. The idea is that to show the Moon to someone, you first ask him to look at the tree branch and then his attention can be directed towards the Moon beyond the branches. Similarly, it is not always practical or advisable to carry the Deity of the Lord with oneself, but a twice-born brahmana must perform his daily duties of meditating on the Lord at dawn and dusk, so the Vedas enjoin that he is to meditate on the Lord through the medium of the Sun, who is always present in the firmament. But beyond the effulgent sun, is Lord Vishnu. This is called Pratikopasana.
In conclusion, the Agni Purana states that Gayatri is so called because it sings (gayati) or illuminates the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and it protects the chanter (trayate) by fixing his mind on the Lord. It is related with the sun because the sun is also called Savitri, a word used in Gayatri; and Savitri, which is another name for Gayatri, is the daughter of the sun-god. Mother Sarasvati is the presiding deity of speech and Gayatri is the sound representation of the Lord. The Skanda Purana, therefore explains that because the Bhagavatam is based on Gayatri and is also the sound representation of Krishna it explains those stories belonging to the Sarasvata kalpa indicating that its stories glorify only Krishna.
After this, Srila Jiva Gosvami continues to elaborate on the meanings of the various phrases used in the two verses of the Garuda Purana, quoted in the previous section. Srimad Bhagavatam is described as the "Samaveda among the Puranas". In Bhagavad-gita (10.22), the Lord says that He is the Samaveda among the Vedas. He means that the Samaveda is the best of all the Vedas. It contains beautiful prayers in glorification of the Supreme Lord. According to the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.28) such glorification is the ultimate purpose of the Vedas (vasudeva para vedah). This is done indirectly in the karma kanda and jnana kanda portions of the Vedas, whereas the Samaveda glorifies Krishna directly, therefore it is the best. Similarly, the various Puranas glorify various deities, although their underlying purpose is Krishna's glorification, the Srimad Bhagavatam is the Samaveda among the Puranas, because it has no other topic than Krishna. It reconciles all the other Puranas and thus the Skanda Purana declares that by studying Srimad Bhagavatam one gets the benefit of studying all the Puranas.
The superior postion of the Bhagavat Purana is conveyed by its name. Srimat means beautiful and Bhagavata means related to the Lord. It is most beautiful because it describes the beautiful pastimes of the Supreme Person. Sri also means opulence. It is the most opulent because it is identical with Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, replete with all opulences.
Sata-viccheda-samyuta literally means that the Bhagavatam has hundreds of sections. Jiva Gosvami does not comment upon it. Most editions of the Bhagavatam have 335 chapters, which are divided into twelve cantos, but some scholars accept only 332 chapters.They claim that chapters Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen of the Tenth Canto are interpolated. Great authorities, however, like Sridhara Svami and Bopadeva, have accepted these three chapters by commenting on them and Srila Jiva Gosvami follows in their footsteps.
The three chapters in question describe the killing of Aghasura and Lord Brahma's bewilderment by Krishna. In Chapter Twelve, Twelfth Canto, Suta Gosvami gives the list of pastimes of the Lord and in the twenty-eighth verse he mentions the killing of Aghasura and Lord Brahma's bewilderment, clearly indicating that these three chapters have a place in the Bhagavatam. Thus in the opinion of Srila Jiva Gosvami, the Bhagavatam contains 335 chapters, otherwise it will fall short of eighteen thousand verses. For a more detailed discussion of this see the appendix entitled 332 or 335.
While commenting on hemasimha-samanvita (SB. 12.13.14), which literally means "with a golden lion", Srila Sridhara Svami says that simha (lion) indicates a simha-asana, or a golden throne. That is to say that the Srimad Bhagavatam should be donated mounted on a golden throne. This recommendation of a golden throne is not given for any other Purana. Srila Jiva Gosvami concludes, therefore, that just as the lion is the emperor in the animal kingdom, Srimad Bhagavatam is the sovereign ruler of all other scriptures. Subsequently, it is also the sovereign ruler among all other pramanas and, as recommended in the Skanda Purana, for the person wishing to understand the Absolute Reality, there is no need to study any other scripture.
Next Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that Srimad Bhagavatam was held in high esteem by all the greatest scholars and acaryas.
Go to Section Twenty-three
Return to Section Twenty-One
