The Brihad-Bhagavatamrita by Sanatana Goswami is a consummate rendering in Sanskrit verse of Vaishnava devotional spirituality as inspired by Krishna-Chaitanya, or simply Chaitanya (1486–1533). Analogous in some respects to Dante’s Paradiso and more closely akin to John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, it depicts not one but two parallel spiritual odysseys. The first is of Narada, the paradigm of the devout Vaishnava saint/sage; the other is of Gopa-kumara, a simple lad in search of God. The former travels across India and into heavenly realms in search of those devotees, human or divine, to whom God Krishna has been most merciful. In the course of his quest, Narada encounters ever more profound and dedicated embodiments of devotion (bhakti) to Krishna. Each of these deferentially redirects him to others yet more devout—and yet more favored by Krishna—than themselves. The dialogues en route—subtly interpreted in an extensive auto-commentary—are so designed as to instruct, edify, and inspire devout readers or listeners. The lad, Gopa-kumara, likewise, provides the occasion for progressive spiritual discovery as one follows his pilgrimage from one realm to another in search of ever more sublime and quintessential manifestations of the divine.
Narada’s search culminates in the paradoxical revelation that the devotees most favored by Krishna—those whose devotion to Him is most perfect and intense—are gopis, simple (though divine) cowherd girls who are in torment when their beloved Krishna is absent from them. Gopa-kumara’s quest leads to the discovery that God Krishna reveals Himself most perfectly in the idyllic heavenly realm of Goloka (and in the terrestrial Vrindavana), where He sports eternally as youthful lover of the gopis and playmate of the cowherd boys.
Within the framework of this dual spiritual odyssey and an extensive commentary, Dig-darshini, the sixteenth-century author, Sanatana Goswami, analyzes with delicate nuances and orchestrates in masterly fashion the theology-cum-psychology of loving devotion (prema-bhakti) to Krishna as epitomized by Chaitanya. To readers already familiar with the Puranic Hindu pantheon and imagery and appreciative of the Vaishnava commitment to prema-bhakti to God Krishna, the luxuriant transcendental scenes and unrestrained displays of ecstatic devotion need not seem exotic. But the vividness and novelty of many vignettes and the poignant emotional vulnerability of Krishna may evoke surprise and wonder even among seasoned Vaishnava devotees. If, of course, one does not see the point of what Sanatana was doing, one need not read on. But even the reader new to the cosmology, mythology, and theology of Vaishnava devotion, if reasonably patient and attentive, may find in the Brihad-bhagavatamrita and Dig-darshini a remarkably incisive, consistent, and revealing exploration of human spirituality and religious psychology. . . .
The further I read, the less was I conscious that I was reading a translation, so naturally does one unit of the narrative flow into the next. When I did shift to the task of comparing portions of the translation with the Sanskrit, I was pleased to discover that the English prose is indeed very faithful to the Sanskrit original. One might quibble over the choice of certain idiomatic English phrases, but even these convey the basic sense. From the literal meaning of the original, little is left out, and very little is added, in the passage from Sanskrit to English.
Joseph T. O’Connell, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, St. Michael’s College,
University of Toronto
Research Associate, Oxford Centre
for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies
The hero’s quest for the extraordinary—an ever-recurring theme in literature—reflects the urge of every heart at its noblest to discover the full possibilities of life. Anyone dissatisfied with the scant potential of mundane existence is naturally stimulated by the prospect of finding, even vicariously, a world of greater liberty. There should be some better place for the soul. Why should happiness be so elusive, and why should confusion and resentment always shroud the mind’s eye, making it unable to see clearly what’s in front of it?
Srila Sanatana Goswami’s Brihad-bhagavatamrita is a gemlike example of the quest genre, but different from the sort commonly encountered in fable and fiction. Narada and Gopa-kumara, the respective heroes of this book’s two parts, are searching for a key to fulfillment much subtler than wealth, influence, mundane love, the Fountain of Youth, or even the Holy Grail. Narada has vast experience of the cosmos, Gopa-kumara is illiterate and naive, yet they share the same vision of what is most valuable. What both want is not to conquer or exploit on any level, but to explore the mystery of selfless service. As Narada already knows, and Gopa-kumara will gradually learn, the superior mode of life they seek is personal and defined by the interplay of those who take part in it, rather than by material laws of nature.
The cynosure of the spiritual world in which Sanatana Goswami and his protagonists feel at home is one special person, the object of the selfless love Narada and Gopa-kumara value above all. Narada knows this special person, Krishna, as the prince of the Yadus, and Gopa-kumara contemplates Him as a young cowherd like himself. Srila Sanatana takes it for granted that Krishna-Gopala is supreme, that Krishna is the creator and controller of everything, and leaves the task of proving it to his brother Rupa Goswami, who later takes it up in his Laghu- (“smaller”) bhagavatamrita. Here in the Brihad- (“bigger”) bhagavatamrita the main questions are in whom and in what realm is love for the Supreme Person most intimately known. . . .
Unlike the material existence we all know, in which survival depends on our ability to jockey ourselves into better positions than competitors and garner our share of the limited resources for control and enjoyment, on the transcendental plane of love of God the resources are unlimited, and everyone competes instead to prove that others are better than themselves. This remarkable quality, unknown in material life, is evident even in the sincere beginners in devotional practice . . .
Gopa-kumara, the main character of the second part of Brihad-bhagavatamrita, is an innocent young cowherd from the vicinity of Krishna’s favorite hill, Govardhana. After a mysterious brahmana initiates him into the ten-syllable Gopala mantra, a yearning to search out Lord Gopala awakens in Gopa-kumara’s heart. Like Narada in Part One, Gopa-kumara searches throughout the material universe; but he also travels beyond, into the kingdom of God, Vaikuntha, and yet further to the most confidential realms of the kingdom of God—Ayodhya, Dvaraka, and Goloka. The final message of the second part of Brihad-bhagavatamrita is the superexcellence of Goloka Vrindavana, the personal abode of Krishna in His original identity as the darling son of the cowherds, the lover of the gopis. . . .
While working on this book I have had the undeserved good fortune to be living at the location of Gopa-kumara’s story, Sri Govardhana, first on the shore of Manasi-ganga next door to Srila Sanatana Goswami’s bhajana-kutira, and more recently by the very side of Giriraja at Dana-ghati. I hope that some flavor of these all-ecstatic holy abodes has penetrated my ignorance and found its way onto these pages.
Gopiparanadhana Dasa
at Giriraja Govardhana
Sri Rama-navami, April 12, 2000