Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c9.s4.t4.39
Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c9.s4.t4.39
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c9.s4.t4.39.1
Jiva Gosvāmin next seeks, with a similar method, to establish the *Bhagavattā* of Kṛṣṇa by showing that Kṛṣṇa is to be regarded as the source not only of the Puruṣa-Avatāra and of the Līlā-Avatāras who proceed from the Puruṣa, but also of the Guṇa-Avatāras, namely, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. He is thus superior to the recognised Trinity of the Purāṇic mythology and religion. No doubt, these Avatāras, being aspects of Kṛṣṇa's manifestation, are each of them perfect (pūrṇa), but Kṛṣṇa is the most perfect (pūrṇatama). In Kṛṣṇa as the Bhagavat, there is the fullest display of all the divine Śaktis, but what is prominent is the highest expression of the Hlādinī Śakti or the energy of bliss, which absorbs and supersedes all other aspects of the Svarūpa-śakti. As such, therefore, Kṛṣṇa, as the highest embodiment of divine Ānanda or Mādhurya, is superior to such lower expressions of the deity as Nārāyaṇa or Vāsudeva in whom only the aspect of divine might (Aiśvarya) is displayed. Jīva Gosvāmin also discusses in detail the authoritative opinions on this subject of the great interlocutors of the Bhāgavata, namely, Vidura and Maitreya (iv. 17. 6-7), Parīkṣit and Śūka (i. 19 ; ii. 1, etc.), Vyāsa and Nārada (i. 5 ; i. 6. 2, etc.), Brahmā and Kṛṣṇa (ii, 7), Śaunaka and Sūta (i. 1f). These great teachers and their listeners in the Bhāgavata (Mahā-vaktr-śrotr) agree in regarding Kṛṣṇa as the Bhagavat.
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Kṛṣṇa is the theme generally of the entire Bhāgavata, consisting of eighteen thousand verses, but the subject is especially dealt with in Skandhas i, x and xi ; and in the dialogues of Brahmā and Nārada, of Vidura and Uddhava, and of Nārada and Yudhiṣṭhira in Skandhas ii, iii and vii respectively, as well as in isolated passages like iv. 1. 58 ; iv. 17. 6 ; v. 6. 18 ; vi. 8. 20 ; end of ix ; xii. 11. 26, and in the Anukramaṇikā section (xii. 12) of the work. In this way Jīva Gosvāmin takes upon himself the task of marshalling a formidable army of Bhāgavata passages in support of the Mahāvākya, which he designates as the king of all utterances,¹ and attempts to show that Kṛṣṇa as the Bhagavat is not only the principal theme of the work in more than half the number of verses comprised in it, but this theme being exclusive to it, it receives the name of the *Bhāgavata*. This claim is recognised also in the other *Purāṇas*; for instance, the *Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa* speaks of Kṛṣṇa's name figuratively as the moon churned from the nectar-sea of Śuka's speech (*śuka-vāg-amṛtābdhindu*). Passages which, in Jiva Gosvāmin's opinion, are typically representative of the view expressed in the *Mahāvākya*, are also discussed and explained in detail, e.g. ix. 24. 55; x. 14. 30; x. 3. 7; x. 20. 36; i.2, 79; etc. It is repeatedly laid down that the *Bhāgavata*, as already demonstrated in the first *Saṃdarbha*, is the paramount *Śāstra* of all *Śāstras* (*sarva-śāstra-cakravartitva*);
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and there are passages in the work itself (e.g. x. 57. 20) which indicate that it supersedes other *Śāstras* (*apara-śāstropamardaka*). In the work itself we have also the statement that it was composed by Vyāsa after obtaining the beatific vision. All these facts make the *Bhāgavata* the most trustworthy guide in matters of worship, so that if other gods are extolled in other scriptures, the ultimate supremacy of Kṛṣṇa, who is declared and praised in the *Bhāgavata*, is beyond doubt. Once this position is accepted, it is easy to explain that such deities as Nārāyaṇa and Vāsudeva, who are celebrated in the *Padma-purāṇa*, *Nārāyaṇa-Upaniṣad* and *Vāsudeva-Upaniṣad*, are merely henotheistically conceived as the supreme god, but they are really various aspects of Kṛṣṇa-Bhāgavat. Texts other than those from the *Bhāgavata* are also cited to prove the supreme godhead of Kṛṣṇa; for instance from the *Mahābhārata*, including the *Gītā* (xv. 15; xiv. 27), *Gopāla-tāpanī*, *Padma-purāṇa*, *Brahma-saṃhitā* and from the list of one hundred and eight names of Kṛṣṇa given in the *Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa*, etc.