The Sat Sandarbhas of Jīva Gosvāmī (original) (raw)
In the first volume of the Ṣaṭ Sandarbha, namely, the Tattva Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī first establishes the Vedic sound revelation known as Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa as the means of valid knowing of Ultimate Reality.
The Bhagavat Sandarbha is the second book of this anthology. In this volume, Śrī Jīva builds on the overview provided in Tattva Sandarbha to elucidate on, in explicit detail, the nature of that nondual Reality. He covers the topic of ontology, or sambandha-jñāna, knowledge of Reality as the nondual Absolute, which finds its highest completion exclusively in Bhagavān, the transcendent personal Absolute. The one indivisible total Reality is referred to primarily by the names Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.
These three different names refer to the exact same Reality but as seen from different points of view. When that Reality is intuited as unqualified being, it is known as Brahman; when realized as the Immanent Self, it is known as Paramātmā; and when directly apperceived as the trans-conventional Person inclusive of all opulence and potency, it is known as Bhagavān. He is the most complete manifestation of nondual Reality, inclusive of Brahman and Paramātmā.
The potencies of Bhagavān are broadly divided into three categories: intrinsic, extrinsic and intermediary. The intrinsic potency is that which belongs to, or is identical with, His essential being (svarūpa). It is conscious by nature and beyond the material guṇas. The extrinsic potency, also known as māyā, is inert and external to His svarūpa, being constituted of the guṇas. It is activated by and functions under the control of Bhagavān’s own self-expansion as the Immanent Self, Paramātmā. The intermediary potency refers to the conscious living beings (the jīvas), who are compared to rays or particles of the self-luminous all-pervading Sun, i.e., Paramātmā.
Bhagavān is inconceivable in all respects. No one knows where, how, to what extent, or when He expands His intrinsic potency and enacts His divine play within the cosmos. He is all-expansive (Bhūman), with unlimited forms included within His own form.
Jīva Gosvāmī elaborates in a breath-taking manner the trans-conventional nondual nature of Bhagavān, who can be only known through the Vedas. He provides a deep analysis of Bhagavān’s name, form, actions, and attributes, which are all transcendental. They spring from His essential nature and are thus diametrically opposed to their material counterparts. His names are distinct from ordinary sound, being themselves the very cause of the cosmos consisting of material elements.
In Śrī Bhagavat Sandarbha, Satyanarayana Dasa has translated the entire Sanskrit text, which is rendered in the original Devanagari script, and has given commentary on each section.