Translated by Gopiparanadhana Dasa
Publisher: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Grödinge, Sweden, 2002
ISBN: 91-7149-439-1

The Brhad-bhagavatamrta, by Sanatana Gosvami, (1486-1533) is a consummate rendering in Sanskrit verse of Vaisnava devotional spirituality as inspired by Krsna-Caitanya, or simply Caitanya. Analogous in some respects to Dante's Paradiso and more closely akin to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, it depicts two parallel spiritual odysseys. The first is of Narada, the paradigm of the devout Vaisnava 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, Krsna, has been most merciful. In the course of his quest, Narada encounters ever more profound and dedicated embodiments of devotion (bhakti) to Krsna. Each of these personalities deferentially redirects him to others yet more devout - and yet more favoured by Krsna - 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 favoured by Krsna - those whose devotion to Him is most perfect and intense - are gopis, simple (though divine) cowherd girls who are in torment when their beloved Krsna is absent from them. Gopa-kumara's quest leads to the discovery that Krsna reveals Himself most perfectly in the idyllic heavenly realm of Goloka (and in the terrestrial Vrndavana), where He sports eternally as youthful lover of the gopis and playmate of the cowherd boys.

Within the framework of this dual spiritual odyssey presented together with an extensive commentary - the Dig-darsini - the sixteenth-century author, Sanatana Gosvami, analyses with delicate nuances and orchestrates in masterly fashion the theology-cum-psychology of loving devotion (prema-bhakti) to Krsna as epitomised by Caitanya. To read-ers already familiar with the Puranic Hindu pantheon and imagery and appreciative of the Vaisnava commitment to prema-bhakti to Krsna, 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 Krsna may evoke surprise and wonder even among seasoned Vaisnava devotees. Even the reader new to the cosmology, mythology, and theology of Vaisnava devotion, if reasonably patient and attentive, may find in the Brhad-bhagavatamrta and Dig-darsini a remarkably incisive, consistent, and revealing exploration of human spirituality and religious psychology.

For Vaisnava devotees in the tradition of Caitanya, the Brhad-bhagavatamrta and its commentary are foundational texts of great value. Sanatana Gosvami was the most senior of the authoritative scholar-devotees deputed by Caitanya to formulate the appropriate theology of prema-bhakti to Krsna. Sanatana's poetic narrative, supplemented by its commentary, is the most thorough and penetrating statement of his theological ideas and spiritual sensibilities. Significantly, I think, this, his most ambitious work, takes the form of narrative and dialogue. The Brhad-bhagavatamrta is carefully organised, and it is dramatic and imaginative in form. Though based on the Srimad-Bhagavatam - the essence, or nectar (amrta), of which it aspires to express - the Brhad-bhagavatamrta is not in the form of a commentary as such. It is itself a Purana-like tale which, though composed by Sanatana, is told as an ancient discourse by King Pariksit to his mother, Uttara. Like a Purana, it presents exemplary personages, memorable incidents, and striking imagery. All of this serves to nourish the reflection and meditation, i.e., the smarana (lit. remembering), of devout readers or hearers. The content of the text is words, but these are picture words rather than book words. They evoke the experiential basis upon which secondary theoretical and practical elaboration may be built. By expressing his own conception of loving devotion to God in the form of the dual odysseys of Narada and Gopa-kumara, Sanatana was in effect endorsing literary narrative of a poetic and dramatic sort as a preferred means for passing on to subsequent generations the crucial experience (anubhuti) of loving devotion.

For devotees of Krsna in the modern world who are not fluent in Sanskrit, access to Sanatana's foundational poem must be by translations or paraphrase. There are several versions in Bengali and Hindi, and perhaps in some other Indian languages. There is an English translation of the Brhad-bhagavatamrta by Sriman Bhakti Prajnan Yati Maharaja from the Sri Gaudiya Math (Madras), but none, so far as I know, of the Dig-darsini. The present edition includes translations by Gopiparanadhana Dasa of both the basic poem and its commentary (plus appendices, glossary, etc.). This is an extraordinary labour of love! The Brhad-bhagavatamrta alone contains some 2,500 Sanskrit verses, each requiring painstaking care even when being rendered into idiomatic English prose rather than metrical verse (a wise course to follow). The commentary is considerably longer and, although in Sanskrit prose, is far from easy to convey in readable, accurate English. Yet the task has been done and done well; an impressive achievement indeed.

When I first began to examine the proofs for this book, I was pleased to find that Gopiparanadhana Dasa's English prose version reads clearly and crisply. Moreover, it conveys the excitement, wonder, and devotion of spiritual discovery that animates Sanatana's own composition. The more I read, the more fascinated I became with Sanatana's novel and bril-liant retelling of themes emanating from the Srimad Bhagavatam (but developed into much that is not found explicitly in that revered text). Depictions of progressively more intense and intimate modes of loving devotion build to a climax in the remarkable portrayal of Krsna at Dvaraka, where He was at one time depressed and feeling anguish in the absence of Radha and the gopis but was then restored to 'normal' consciousness by an artful ruse.

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 compar-ing 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. Inevitably, of course, some resonance is lost in any transition from poetic verse to prose translation. But, fortunately, because the Brhad-bhagavatamrta is mostly narrative and dialogue, it lends itself more readily to a prose rendering than would other types of poetic verse. I would like to think that Sanatana Gosvami would welcome his modern prose translator as a kindred spirit and an able expositor of his work.

The Dig-darsini, being prose, but prose in the peculiar form of Sanskrit textual commentary, presents the translator with a different set of challenges. It is twice the length of the document that it interprets. In form and function, it resembles the complex footnotes of modern scholarship. In orientation, it assumes broadly ranging acquaintance with traditional Vaisnava themes, Sanskrit religious literature, and technical points of devotional aesthetics, theology, and philosophy. Faced with such challenges, many a translator - and, if not he or she, then the publisher - would resort to a paraphrase that drastically cuts down the size and simplifies the scholarship of the commentary, and perhaps introduces an ersatz ideo-logical or rhetorical interpretation in place of the more demanding and sophisticated orientation of the author.

Not so the present translator and publisher. Both Gopiparanadhana Dasa and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust are to be commended for respecting Sanatana's auto-commentary as it is, in all its bulk and sophistication. The Brhad-bhagavatamrta and Dig-darsini together comprise a classic of religious literature whose integrity ought not be compromised. On a narrow scale, these two works are classic in that they are the template for the theology and spiritual psychology that have remained authoritative for the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition. And though till now scarcely known beyond that tradition and those who study it, they are - or merit being so recognised as - classics on a global scale as well. Sanatana Gosvami's chef d'oeuvre is a masterful exploration, grounded in Vaisnava devotional faith, of human spirituality and religious psychology, here for the first time made accessible in its entirety to the English-reading world.

As the translator acknowledges, the English version of the Dig-darsini is a paraphrase, not a line-by-line translation. As such, it does not replace a close reading of the original for scholars capable of reading Sanskrit. But, as the translator points out (and illustrates in the appendices), the paraphrasing is largely a matter of arrangement, not of selective excision or augmentation. From the portions of Volume One that I have compared closely, it is evident that Gopiparanadhana Dasa has managed to retain virtually all of the content of the original commentary, though with considerable rearrangement to facilitate reading. Were his aim to produce a rigorously literal English rendering, some of his paraphrasing of Sanatana's formulations might well have to be revisited. But, all things considered, Gopiparanadhana Dasa has done an admirable job of conveying the informational content and spiritual verve of the author - without bowdlerising or truncating - in an idiom understandable to patient and attentive (though not necessarily expert) readers. I presume that the quality achieved in Volume One has been maintained through Volumes Two and Three.

There is a special significance to this publication over and above its making accessible to readers of English two classic Sanskrit spiritual literatures. This is the first publication by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust of such major Vaisnava theological texts that disciples of the late A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada have accomplished without his immediate pres-

ence. It follows the widely disseminated versions of the Bhagavad-gita in many languages and multi-volume translations of the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Caitanya-caritamrta, each of which is accompanied by an elaborate commentary. These prior publications were substantially the work of Prabhupada himself, with certain of his Sanskrit-trained devotees, including Gopiparanadhana Dasa, serving as apprentices. The appearance of the Brhad-bhagavatamrta thus marks a new phase of textual theological scholarship by members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. They have, as it were, come into their maturity and can carry the responsibility of faithfully transmitting the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition of prema-bhakti, loving devotion to Krsna. What better way to ensure fidelity to the words and spirit of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His circle of immediate disciples than to enable devotees and attentive seekers to read, hear, and visualise the foundational texts of those very scholar-devotees who had experienced the charismatic presence of Krsna-Caitanya Himself!

Joseph T. O'Connell, PhD

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