By Srila Jiva Gosvami
Though conceived of in various ways, ultimately the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person who shares intimate loving exchanges with the best of His devotees. Here we present an excerpt from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust edition of Srila Jiva Goswami’s Sri Tattva-sandarbha. Jiva Goswami was one of the famed Six Goswamis, leading contemporary followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Tattva-sandarbha is the first of six sandarbhas (treatises) explaining the philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, or devotion to Krishna in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s line. The translator is Gopiparanadhana Dasa, whose commentary closely follows the early eighteenth-century commentary of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. The book includes a supplement called Sarva-samvadini, mentioned in this excerpt. We begin here with the last of the opening mangalacarana, or “prayers for auspiciousness.”