Opinion reconsidered & clarified, Nayana Ranjana Prabhu...

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Home Base: ISKCON-Baroda

 

Dear Nayana Ranjana Prabhu,

 

Namonamaƒ. Jaya ®r…la Prabhup€da!

 

Thank you for your message:

 

> Dear Basu Ghosh Prabhu,

> Hare Krsna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila

> Prabhupada.

>

> > nana shastra vicharanaika nipunaha...

> >

> > The 6 goswamis were "nipunahaexpert" at "vicharanaikaconsidering"

> > (hindi-vichar)... what? "nana shastra"; "various scriptures".

>

> Kindly answer my one question:

>

> Are Cc and Caitanya Bhagavata (written by Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja

> Goswami) considered scriptures by you? Please give a clear answer yes or

> no. If yes then it has to accepted that they are bhakti-smrti-sastras and

> if no then they why did Prabhupada say that he wants his disciples to

> study the Vedic literatures like Gita, Bhagavatam & Cc. He never said that

> Cc is not a sastra. Infact it is accepted as the post-graduate study of

> all the sastras.

 

"The subject matter of the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, by Sri Sanatana Gosvami, was

collected by Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami and is known as a vaishnva-smrti.

This vaishnava-smrti-grantha was finished in twenty chapters, known as

vilasas." (CC Madhya 1.35 SP Purport)

 

So Srila Prabhupada calls it "Vaishnava Smriti Grantha". So you will have

to revise your phraseology here. :-)

 

Yes, we Gaudiya Vaishnavas accept the CC & CB, etc., as "Vaishnava Smriti

Granthas". But... other sampradayas may not. And in the same CC we will

find that Ramanuja, Madhva, etc., are considered bona fide vaishnava

sampradayas.

 

> > And BTW the other books written by

> > "liberated souls" mentioned by Srila Prabhupada in CC that you've quoted

> > above would be "Valmiki Ramayana", "Manu Smriti" and other dharma

> > shastras, which are accepted by all acharyas.

>

> If Valmiki's & Manu's compositions are sastra according to you then why

> not the books of the six Goswamis & Srila Prabhupada? Why is it being

> implied that liberated souls means only Vyasadeva, Valmiki, Manu and only

> some few others? Please give the sastric proof for this. I think this is

> backward logic. Because you already know that some books are accepted as

> sastras, we are saying that their authors are the only liberated souls who

> can give us sastra.

 

It's a historical question here. Even Srila Prabhupada employed the term

"Vaishnava Smriti Grantha", which does distinguish those literatures from

Smriti shastras and, for instance dharma shastras and vaishnava agama

shastras (pancharatra & vaikhanasa agamas).

 

In one sense, since these are books we are discussing, yes, it could be said

and indeed SP did state that in the quotation above, that they are shastras.

 

But they are also different. For instance, from SB 12.7.8-11 we learn what

is a Maha Purana & what is an Upa Purana. (and if you read this entire

chapter there is a description of the Vedas & the acharyas that were

assigned their various branches).

 

"purana-laksanam brahman

brahmarsibhir nirüpitam

Srunusva buddhim asritya

veda-Sastranusarataha

 

SYNONYMS

 

purana-laksanam-the characteristics of a Purana; brahman-O brahmana,

Saunaka; brahma-rusibhiha-by great learned brahmanas; nirüpitam-ascertained;

Srunusva-please hear; buddhim-intelligence; aSritya-resorting to;

veda-Sastra-the Vedic scriptures; anusarataha-in accordance with.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O Saunaka, please hear with attention the characteristics of a Purana, which

have been defined by the most eminent learned brahmanas in accordance with

Vedic literature.

SB 12.7.9-10

 

TEXTS 9-10

 

TEXT

sargo 'syatha visargaS ca

vrutti-raksantarani ca

vamSo vamSanucaritam

samstha hetur apaSrayaha

daSabhir laksanair yuktam

puranam tad-vido viduha

kecit panca-vidham brahman

mahad-alpa-vyavasthaya

 

SYNONYMS

 

sargaha-the creation; asya-of this universe; atha-then; visargaha-the

secondary creation; ca-and; vrutti-maintenance; raksa-protection by

sustenance; antarani-the reigns of the Manus; ca-and; vamSaha-the dynasties

of great kings; vamsa-anucaritam-the narrations of their activities;

samstha-the annihilation; hetuha-the motivation (for the living entities'

involvement in material activities); apasrayaha-the supreme shelter;

dasabhiha-with the ten; laksanaiha-characteristics; yuktam-endowed;

puranam-a Purana; tat-of this matter; vidaha-those who know; viduha-they

know; kecit-some authorities; panca-vidham-fivefold; brahman-O brahmana;

mahat-of great; alpa-and lesser; vyavasthaya-according to the distinction.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O brahmana, authorities on the matter understand a Purana to contain ten

characteristic topics: the creation of this universe, the subsequent

creation of worlds and beings, the maintenance of all living beings, their

sustenance, the rule of various Manus, the dynasties of great kings, the

activities of such kings, annihilation, motivation and the supreme shelter.

Other scholars state that the great Puranas deal with these ten topics,

while lesser Puranas may deal with five.

 

PURPORT

 

The ten subjects of a great Purana are also described in the Second Canto of

Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.10.1):

 

Sri-Suka uvaca

atra sargo visargas ca

sthanam posanam ütayaha

manvantareSanukatha

nirodho muktir asrayaha

 

"Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there are ten divisions

of statements regarding the following: the creation of the universe,

subcreation, planetary systems, protection by the Lord, the creative

impetus, the change of Manus, the science of God, returning home (back to

Godhead), liberation and the summum bonum."

According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, Puranas such as Srimad-Bhagavatam deal with

these ten topics, whereas lesser Puranas deal with only five. As stated in

Vedic literature:

 

sargas ca pratisargas ca

vamso manvantarani ca

vamsanucaritam ceti

puranam panca-laksanam

 

"Creation, secondary creation, the dynasties of kings, the reigns of Manus

and the activities of various dynasties are the five characteristics of a

Purana." Puranas covering five categories of knowledge are understood to be

secondary Puranic literature.

 

Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained that the ten principal topics of

Srimad-Bhagavatam are found within each of the twelve cantos. One should not

try to assign each of the ten topics to a particular canto. Nor should the

Srimad-Bhagavatam be artificially interpreted to show that it deals with the

topics successively. The simple fact is that all aspects of knowledge

important to human beings, summarized in the ten categories mentioned above,

are described with various degrees of emphasis and analysis throughout the

Srimad-Bhagavatam."

 

Interesting how in the translation of the shloka above (SB 2.10.1)

Hridayananda Maharaj (or Gopiparanadhana Prabhu) has said that there are

"secondary puranic literature(s)." Thus there are many distinctions being

made in this regard.

 

The point is that we can indeed *equate* "Vaishnava Smriti Granthas" with

other vedic literatures, but in the end analysis, they fall under the

category of "sadhu" as opposed to the category of "shastra".

 

This is in order for us to convince other followers of the vedic literatures

that the path we are on is bona fide. In all humility I ask; doesn't that

make sense to you?

 

VaiŠava d€sanud€s,

 

B€su Ghosh D€s