Viswanatha Cakravarti

Birth and childhood

Scholars disagree on the life span of Vishwanatha Chakravarti. According to the Shmalala Goswami, he was born in 1626 in the village of Devagrama. ^[2] Murarilal Adhikari, in his work Vaishnava-digdarsani, indicates 1646 as the year of his birth. Madhusudana Tattvavacaspati suggests that Viswanatha was born in 1633 - 1638 . ^[3] Whereas Jagatbandhu Bhadra claims that Viswanatha was born in 1664 . ^[4] However, there is insufficient evidence to support one of these points of view.

Viswanatha completed his work, Sarartha-darsini, in 1704, as he himself states at the end of the book. This indicates that he was alive during this period. According to Sukumar Sene, Viswanatha died a few years after that. ^[five]

Some researchers believe that the village of Devagram, in which Vishwanatha was born, belongs to the town of Kasiganj of the Nadia district in modern West Bengal . ^[6] Others claim that Devagram was located in the town of Sagaradihi, Murshidabad County. ^[7]

Visvanatha's father was called Ramanarayana Chakravarti. Viswanatha was the youngest child in the family. His older brothers were Ramabhadra and Raghunatha. Ramabhadra was a famous scholar and theologian, a disciple of Gopikanta, who was the son of Hariramacharya, a disciple of Ramachandra Kaviraja , who belonged to the line of spiritual teachers ascending to Srinivasa . Viswanatha's second brother, Raghunatha, was also a renowned scholar. ^[eight]

It is described that immediately after the birth of Viswanatha, the baby's body was surrounded by a bright radiance that lit up the whole room and soon disappeared. ^[9] When Viswanatha was still a teenager, the famous learned brahmana visited Devagram. All the local pundits were afraid to enter into a philosophical discussion with him; Viswanatha, however, came forward and gained an upper hand over the famous scholar in a debate.

Teaching and Spiritual Initiation

As a child, Viswanatha completed his studies at Devagram and moved to Saidabad . Some scholars claim that Viswanatha continued his studies under the guidance of Ganganarayana Chakravarti from Saidabad, ^[10] while others believe that his teacher was the adopted son of Ganganarayana named Krishnacharana. ^[11] Visvanatha received diksa from Radharamana Cakravarti, the son and disciple of Krishnacarana.

The Wedding and Acceptance of Renunciation

From childhood, Viswanatha was distinguished by great detachment. At a very young age, at the direction of his father, the older brother of Viswanatha Raghunatha arranged his wedding. The study of the Bhagavata Purana , however, aroused the spirit of renunciation in Viswanatha. Shortly after completing his studies and accepting diksa , Viswanatha left his family life and went to Vrindavana .

Radhakunda

After visiting a number of holy places, Viswanatha eventually took refuge with Mukunda Dasa, a disciple of Krishnadasa Kaviraja , and settled on the shores of the holy lake of Radha-kunda . ^[12] Around the same time, Viswanatha visited Patadanja and established the Gopala murtis there. ^[13]

At the direction of his guru , Viswanatha visited his wife, with whom she spent only one night, during which she heard nothing from him other than the tales of Krishna. ^[14] The next morning, Viswanatha left the house and returned to his spiritual master, who instructed him to rewrite the entire text of the Bhagavata Purana. Mukunda Dasa had a number of books that he began to write, but never completed. Noticing the great devotion and erudition of Viswanatha, Mukunda instructed his disciple to complete their writing. ^[15]

Living in Vrindavan , Viswanatha worshiped the murtis of Radha-Gokulananda and Giriraja. His Govardhana - schila was first worshiped by Caitanya himself, then by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami , Krishnadasa Kaviraj , Mukunda Dasa , Krishnapriya Thakurani, and then Viswanatha Chakravarti himself. Today, this murti of Giriraja Govardhana is located in the Radha-Gokulanandana temple in Vrindavan . Some argue that the same Govardhana-sila is now in the Bhagavad-niva in Ramana Reti, near the Krishna-Balarama Temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness .

About the spiritual practices of Vishvanatha during this period, Narahari writes the following: “Being deeply immersed in chanting the kirtana of the Lord, Vishvanatha spoke of the Lord's lilies in the most beautiful way. No one is worthy of talking about his spiritual practices. Anyone who was fortunate enough to simply look at Viswanatha immediately felt relieved from the miseries of material existence. Viswanatha served the murtis of Sri Gokulananda with great joy and great devotion. "

The role of Viswanatha in the revival of Vrindavana

Upon arrival in Vrindavana, Viswanatha noticed that after the death of Vrindavan gosvami, the beauty of this holy place wilted. A huge number of Maths were destroyed by Muslims . The pujari left Vrindavan, taking with them the murtis they worshiped. Many murtis were simply left unattended and worship ceased. The inhabitants of Vrindavana were in a state of constant fear. No one was interested in devoting their time to studying the scriptures. ^[sixteen]

During Viswanatha's stay in Vrindavan, many local scholars were deeply moved by his devotion, ability to work, and strength of mind. Vishvanatha set himself the goal of restoring the former splendor and glory of Vrndavana. His main achievements were as follows:

• Viswanatha personally established the Gurkulananda murti and began to worship Govardhana - sila . He reappointed the pujari to worship the murtis in various places of Vrindavan.

• On his initiative, a number of Maths were founded. Viswanatha also inspired the restoration of a large number of temples . ^[17]

• At that time, an understanding of the writings of Vrindavan gosvami was not accessible to the general population because there was no proper analysis and interpretation of these theological treatises. Viswanatha wrote simple and clear comments on the gosvami books, and presented many of them in abbreviated form. This allowed anyone to understand and appreciate the basic meaning of the works of Vrindavan gosvami. Viswanatha also organized the wide distribution of books necessary for the daily study and spiritual practices of Hare Krishnas. He also organized courses to study this theological literature.

Viswanatha Chakravarti has written over forty Sanskrit works on Hare Krishna theology . He also created racic commentaries containing the highest realization on the Bhagavata Purana , Bhagavad-gita , the work of Rupa Goswami , Kavi Karnapura and Narottama Dasa . Among them are Sri Krishna-bhavanamrita, Madhurya-kadambini , Vrajariti-cintamani, Chamatkara-chandrika, Svapna-Vilasamrita, Sankalpa-kalpadruma and others. Books written by Viswanatha Chakravarti can be divided into four groups:

1 - Comments (Tika Grantha)

In the days of Viswanatha, most of the textbooks and other books that were necessary for the daily spiritual practices of the Hare Krishnas were full of difficult theological concepts, mainly set forth in Sanskrit . This made it difficult for ordinary people to study and understand the scriptures. In order to remove these obstacles, Viswanatha wrote simple Sanskrit commentaries on the main works of Vrindavan gosvami . A list of these comments is provided below:

1. “Sarartha-darsini” ( 1704 ) - Commentary on the Bhagavata-Purana
2. Sarartha-varshini - Commentary on the Bhagavad-gita
3. Sri Caitanya-caritamriterika-tika (first-ever Sanskrit commentary on a Bengali book)
4. Brahmasamhitara-tika - Commentary on the Brahma Samhita
5. Ananda Chandrika - Commentary on Ujjwala-Nilamani by Rupa Goswami
6. Bhaktisara-pradarsani - Commentary on Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu by Rupa Gosvami
7. “Premabhakti-chandrika-kirana” - Sanskrit commentary on “Prema-bhakti-chandrika” by Narottam Das
8. Sukha-Vartini - Commentary on Ananda-Vrindavana-Champa by Kavi Karnapura
9. Mahati - Commentary on Danakeli-kaumudi by Rupa Goswami
10. Bhakta-harsini - Commentary on the Gopalatapani Upanishad
11. Hamsaduta-tika - Comment on Hamsadutam by Rupa Goswami
12. Commentary on Vidagdha Madhava by Rupa Goswami
13. Lalita-madhavera-tika

Some scholars believe that Viswanatha was not the author of the commentaries on Lalita-madhava and Vidagdha-madhava. They claim that the disciple of Visvanatha Krishnadeva Sarvabhauma wrote the Vidagdha-madhava tika, while Radhakrishna Dasa, the student of Jiva Goswami , was the author of the commentary on Lalita-madhava. ^[18]

2 - Abridged Summary of Other Vaishnava Scriptures

Viswanatha believed that many of the Vaishnava scriptures were inaccessible to the understanding of ordinary people. Therefore, he presented their main meaning and the most valuable information from them in an abridged form in the form of a number of selected books. In particular, he did this with the three works of Rupa Gosvami , indicated below:

1. Ujwala-nilamani-kirana based on Ujwala-nilamani
2. Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-windu based on Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu
3. Bhagavatamrta-kana based on the Laghu-bhagavatamrta

3 - Vishwanatha Books of Authorship

Viswanatha had a talent for representing complex philosophical concepts in a simple and easily accessible form, while at the same time preserving the unique characteristics of Radha-Krishna lila . Most of his works related to sadhana - bhajan are listed below:

1. Sri Krishna Bhavanamrita ( 1679 ): describes the ashtakaliya-nitya-lila of Radha and Krishna
2. Raga-vartma-chandrika: a guide to raganuga-bhakti and its methods
3. Madhurya-kadambini: sets out subtle details about Krishna's rupa and madhurya
4. Aishwarya-kadambini: describes Aishwarya (wealth) of Krishna
5. Chamatkara Chandraka: describes the mystical pastimes of Radha and Krishna
6. Gopi Premarita: describes the love of the gopis and the concepts of svakiya and parakiya
7. Mantrartha Deepika: Explanation of the Kama Biji and Kama Gayatri Mantras
8. “Vraja-riti-cintamani”: describes the places of Vraja-lila Krsna
9. “Prema-samputa” ( 1684 ): describes the madhurya of Radha
10. Sankalpa-kalpadruma ( 1678 ): contains prayers to Radha with a request to grant Sevavritti
11. Nikundja-keli-virudavali ( 1678 ): describes the pastimes of Radha and Krishna in the kunja
12. Surata Kathamrita ( 1678 ): describes the nightly lilas of Radha and Krishna

4 - Collections of hymns and poems

Some of the works of Viswanatha were written in the form of hymns. They show the devotion of Visvanatha and his respect for the senior Vaisnavas, beloved murtis and holy places where the pastimes of Krishna took place. Below is a list of these works:

1. Sriman Mahaprabhorastakaliya-smaranamangalashtotram: a guide describing Ashtakaliya-lila Caitanya.
2. Sri Gauranganodesa-chandrika: A brief description of the close associates of Caitanya. ^[nineteen]
3. “Stavamrta Lahari”: Consists of 28 hymns, Initiated by the gurus of Viswanatha, his parama-gurus, Narottama, Caitanya, Lokanatha and the Vaisnava acaryas . Then follows the invocation of the mercy of the famous murtis of Gopaladeva, Madana-Gopala, Govindadeva, Gopinatha, Gokulananda and Krishna; requests for the mercy of Radha and Vrindadevi ; hymns glorifying the various places where the pastimes of Krishna Vrindavan, Nandishvara, Krishnakunda took place, etc.
4. The Padawali Samkalam (a collection of Vaishnava poems)
5. Ksanada-gita-cintamani (also known as Ksanada or Gitachintamani). ^[20]

Other authors have previously attempted to compile a collection of Hare Krishna poems. To some extent, this was done by Ramagopala Dasa in his Sri Sri Radha-Krishna-rasa-kalpavalli, his son Pitamvara Dasa in Rasamanjari, and Mukunda Dasa, a student of Krishnadasa Kaviraja, in Siddhanta Chandrodaya. However, it was Viswanatha who first created such a collection. “Kshanada” is regarded as “the first complete collection of the Padawali.” ^[21] There is only the first part of Ksanada, it is believed that Viswanatha died without completing his work. ^[22] In this book, in the poems of his own composition, Viswanatha used the pseudonym Harivallabha or Vallabha.

Vishwanatha Book Writing Traditions

It is described that once in a dream Krishna ordered Viswanatha to write comments on the books of Vrindavan gosvami . He immediately began to work fruitfully. Whenever he sat down to write, the clouds immediately covered him from the scorching sun. Once a heavy rain fell upon the place where Viswanatha wrote his commentary on the Bhagavata Purana . Miraculously, not a single drop fell on either Viswanatha or the manuscript.

In composing the Mantrarthu-dipika (Kamagayatri explanation), Viswanatha was perplexed. According to his careful research, Kama Gayatri contains twenty-five syllables. However, Krishnadasa Kaviraja writes in the Caitanya-caritamrta that it contains twenty-four and a half syllables, and they correspond to the twenty-four and a half moons present in Krishna's spiritual body. Viswanatha could not find an explanation for this until Radha appeared to him in a dream. She urged him not to be sad and said that what Krishnadasa Kaviraja wrote was true. Radha announced that Krishnadasa Kaviraja is also one of her close servants in the spiritual world, and he knows everything about her most secret and deepest feelings. Radha also said that she can be known through the syllables of this mantra, and that without her grace no one is able to know the secret of this mantra.

Radha said that the solution to this problem with half the syllable is contained in the book Varnagama-bhasvadi, after reading which Krishnadasa Kaviraja wrote what he wrote. The letter "I", followed by the letter "vi", as in the words kama ninth vidmaha , is considered half the syllable. It refers to Krishna's forehead, because his forehead has the shape of a crescent . All other letters of this mantra are full, and therefore correspond to full moons. At the end, Radha instructed Viswanatha to look at this book and "bring this evidence for the benefit of everyone."

Waking up, Viswanatha in ecstasy began to shout: “Hey Radhe! Hey Radhe! Hey Radhe! ”After Viswanatha received the darshan of Radha, his works became divine shakti . He felt that Radha had chosen him as one of her close servants . Krishnaites believe that his books reflect this awareness.

Due to his spiritual purity, scholarship, and conscious perception of the intimate conjugal pastimes of Radha and Krishna, Visvanatha Chakravarti is known as the "highest jewel of Vaisnavas." The authorities of Gaudiya Vaishnavism claim that Rupa Gosvami is the embodiment of the god of speech . And Visvanatha Chakravarti, according to Vaisnava acaryas, and especially his direct disciples, is the embodiment of Rupa Gosvami.

The followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism believe that among all the Hare Krishna acaryas, only Viswanatha Chakravarti approaches Rupa Gosvami in the depth of God’s awareness. The very name of Visvanatha Chakravarti shows his exalted position. "Viswanatha" means "one who displays the gem of devotion to Viswanatha (Krsna, the Lord of the Universe)." "Chakravarti" means "expanding chakra bhakti ."

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said: "Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur was a defender, guardian and acharya in the middle historical period ( XVII century ) of the development of Gaudiya Vaishnavism." The growth of Gaudiya Vaishnavism began with Caitanya Mahaprabhu . Later, Bhaktivinoda Thakura poured new powers into him, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati spread it throughout India, and Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ) - all over the world.

According to Hare Krishna theology, in Krsna-lila (the "eternal pastimes of Krsna") Visvanatha Chakravarti serves Radha as a manjari named Vinoda. His samadhi is located in the courtyard of the Radha-Gokulananda temple in Vrindavan .

• In memory of the great saint Visvanatha Chakravarti - Krishna. Ru (inaccessible link)
• Viswanatha Chakravarti Thakura Day of departure - Holidays in India
• Samadhi Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura (Vrindavan)
• Lecture of Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja based on Srila Viswanatha Chakravarti Thakura's book “Prema-samput” (link not available)

Vishwanatha Chakravarti Thakura Books

• Madhurya Kadambini
• Hurv-ashtaka