vaishnava-smrti-grantha = bhakti-smrti-sastra

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Dear Basu Ghosh Prabhu,

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

Prabhupada.

 

> "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. :-)

 

> 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 my humble opinion, you seem to have forgotten the instruction of Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Sanatana Goswami which I had posted earlier and from

where this term 'bhakti-smrti-sastra' has come from. I can repeat that:

 

Cc Madhya 23.104:

 

vrndavane krsna-seva, vaisnava-acara

BHAKTI-SMRTI-SASTRA* kari' kariha pracara

 

"Establish devotional service to Lord Krsna and Radharani in Vrndavana. You

should also compile bhakti scriptures and preach the bhakti cult from

Vrndavana."

 

And in pursuance of those insrtuctions Sanatana Goswami composed the

Hari-bhakti-vilasa. So it clearly means that HBV is 'bhakti-smrti-sastra',

as per the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

 

If Prabhupada mentions in CC Madhya 1.35 Purport that HBV is

'vaishnava-smrti-grantha', we can obviously conclude that:

 

vaishnava-smrti-grantha = bhakti-smrti-sastra

 

You can address the books of the acaryas by any of these two names. One is

used by Lord Caitanya and one is used by Prabhupada. So I don't have to

revise my phraseology at all. Both mean the same thing. So we can see that

just because Prabhupada has used the word 'vaishnava-smrti-grantha' dosen't

mean that are not sastras. They are & remain smrti-sastras.

 

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

> Granthas". But... other sampradayas may not.

 

Again as proved above; vaishnava-smrti-grantha = bhakti-smrti-sastra

 

> 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?

 

In all humility, I have to say Prabhu, that it dosen't make sense. Why do we

care what the other sampradayas accept or not accept? They don't accept

Srila Rupa Goswami as acarya but we accept and we are proud that we are the

servant of his servants. In the Vallabha sampradaya they accepted Girdhar

Lal as acarya but Srila Jiva Goswami rejected him because he was not willing

to accept the latter part of SB i.e the lilas between Krsna & the gopies.

 

And because they don't accept dosen't mean that the acaryas books cease from

being bhakti-smrti-sastras. We only accept the verdict of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu irrespective of what anyone else says or feels about it. We are

not ashamed of calling the books of our acaryas as bhakti-smrti-sastras even

in front of them. Infact we loudly proclaim this truth so that the whole

world comes to know about the literatures of the six goswamis and Srila

Prabhupada and gets their mercy by reading these books.

 

Your servant,

Nayana-ranjana das