BY: SUN STAFF
Dec 24, CANADA (SUN) —
Tattva Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION TWENTY-SEVEN
Here in the Shat-sandarbhas I will quote from the Vedas and Puranas and other such scriptures, just as I have seen them. Not to verify the statements of Srimad Bhagavatam, but to verify the interpretations I present. Some of the verses I have not seen personally, but have gleaned them from the Bhagavat tatparyya, Bharata tatparyya, Brahma sutra bhashya, and other works of the venerable Sri Madhvacarya. He was the prolific preacher of the Vaisnava philosophy of Tattvavada, the chief among the knowers of the Vedas and their meaning, and in his line have appeared such renowned scholars as Vijayadhvaja and Vyasatirtha, of great fame in the South.
Sri Madhvacarya states in the Bharata tatparyya, "Having understood the other scriptures with the help of Vedanta, and having seen the various types of scriptures in the different parts of the country, I shall examine and determine the meaning, as per the view of Lord Vyasa, who is Lord Narayana, and the compiler of the Mahabharata and other scriptures". (Bharata tatparyya 2.7,8) [i]
The texts quoted from the works of Sri Madhvacarya will include the Vedic portions from the Caturvedasikha and so on, the Puranic texts from those sections of the Garuda Purana and so on that are no longer available, the samhita texts from the Mahasamhita and so on, and the tantra texts from the Tantra-Bhagavatam and the Brahma-tarka and so on.
Sri Jiva Toshani Commentary
Having proven Srimad Bhagavatam the supreme pramana, it needs no further validation. Srila Jiva Gosvami will therefore quote scripture only to validate his conclusions. He had a library and he quotes from those sources he has directly seen. He also takes help from the writings of Sri Madhvacarya, who lived a few centries before Jiva Gosvami. He quotes many sources in his books that by Jiva's time were already lost.
In Madhva's time (Twelfth century) there were no printing presses. He travelled the length and breadth of India collecting scriptures and other philosophical books, copying them by hand at the various temples and libraries he visited. He was renowned for his photographic memory. When he was not allowed to copy the books he found, he read them and later reproduced them from memory. In this way he amassed an immense library at his headquarters at Udupi, in Karnataka. Some say his library had no equal. Later on it was destroyed by fire, and thus many of the books he refers to in his writings were lost forever. Subsequently, in a number of instances Srila Jiva Gosvami had to be content only with the references found in the existing writings of Sri Madhvacarya. For example, there are no known texts expounding the materialistic philosophy of Carvaka muni. It has all been lost to antiquity. Whatever we know of his beliefs are because Madhva quotes from Carvaka muni's works in his books, wherein he refutes Carvaka's materialism.
The word tattvavada means "everything is real", sarvam vastu satyamiti tattvavadah. The monists accept only Brahman as real and everything else as a manifestation of maya. Madhvacarya soundly defeated this with his philosophy called Tattvavada, both in his writings and in public debates with the leading Mayavadis of his time.
By using Srila Madhvacarya's works as one of his basic references, Jiva Goswami indicates that he comes in the line of succession from Madhva. His doctrine, however, is not exactly the same as Madhva's, for Jiva Gosvami was a follower of Lord Caitanya, whose teachings are an offshoot from Madhva's Tattvavada. Srila Jiva Gosvami's plan is to use those tenets of Madhva that tie-in with the teachings of Lord Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Acintyabhedabheda philosophy. By impartial analysis, the Acintyabhedabheda system is shown to be the most versatile philosophy and superior to all other conclusions based on Vedic knowledge. It is the perfect synthesis of all the Vedic literature. This is possible because Sri Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When He philosophizes therefore, He naturally surpasses all other systems.
Here ends the discussion on the pramana section of Sri Tattva Sandarbha. Having established sabda pramana as the valid means of knowledge, and having established the Srimad Bhagavatam as the topmost form of sabda pramana, in the next section Srila Jiva Goswami begins his discussion of prameya, or what is attainable by the knowledge in the topmost pramana.
[i] The current edition of Bharatatatparyya (Udupi, 1971), instead of "vedantasya" reads "vedan ca asya", which means "having understood the other scriptures and the Vedas by the mercy of the Lord.
[Please note: Section twenty-seven is unfortunately not available.]
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