Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c9.s3.1

c9.s3.1

This is a much shorter work composed, after the manner of Śāstric compendiums, in the form of Kārikās in the Śloka metre, accompanied by illustrative passages from various authoritative Vaiṣṇava scriptures; but the author Rūpa himself informs us that his work really summarises (saṃkṣepena) what is said at great length by Sanātana in his (Bṛhad-) Bhāgavatāmṛta. We are told that of all the adorable deities (upāsya) Kṛṣṇa is the chief. As one of the most fundamental doctrines of the Bengal school is that Kṛṣṇa as the supreme personal god of the faith is not an Avatāra but the divine being himself in his essential character, Rūpa Gosvāmin begins his work by a discussion of the essential selfhood or Svarūpa of Kṛṣṇa, which is one of the principal themes of his work; and in this connexion he deals with the different manifestations and appearances of the supreme deity. Like its prototype, the work is divided into two parts, but the order in which the two aspects of the subject are discussed is reversed. Instead of dealing first with the Bhakta as we have it in the original work, the Svarūpa of Kṛṣṇa is propounded elaborately in the first part, while the second part, which is very short, determines the character and gradation of the Bhaktas, who are represented as equally adorable. The two parts are, therefore, respectively named Kṛṣṇāmṛta and Bhaktāmṛta.