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Can anyone tell me why do Gaudiya Vaishnavas believe in Brahma Samhita?

Shree Krishna
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    It's because they believe Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. ... and as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu referred to Brahma Samhita.. so they believe it....it's like why Muslim believe in Quran... it's because they believe Mohhamed to be Prophet of Allaha.. so they believe it as revelations... so it's basically depends 'on what refrence are we standing to authenticate scripture..' for eg. We believe in Puranas because we believe Vyas wrote it and he being incarnation of Vishnu must have revealed it truly... similarly they believe Mahaprabhu to be incarnation of Lord Vishnu.... – Tezz Jun 04 '16 at 11:19
  • @Tezz : I don't think then it is wise to follow, it's spread ignorance toward society and religion – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 11:20
  • See here what Wikipedia says: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Samhita – Tezz Jun 04 '16 at 11:22
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    Again, interesting that we discussed this in another question. The truth must be available to everyone, hope we find it, one day :) – ABcDexter Jun 04 '16 at 11:23
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    to AbcDexter: hahahaha ,brother ...that's funny – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 11:25
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    @ShreeKrishna I don't know much about authenticity of scriptures... KeshavSrinivasan knows much about it... you can ask him... – Tezz Jun 04 '16 at 11:26
  • @Tezz , yeah sure mate , I have to talk about it to the keshav , indeed he has lots of knowledge about the scripture ... – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 11:29
  • @ShreeKrishna I donot mean Muslims are doing wrong... what I wanted to say is... 'Authenticity of scriptures depends on a refrence point..'... Just like Mohammed is refrence point for Quran, Vyas is refrence point for Puranas... similarly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is refrence point for Brahma Samhita... – Tezz Jun 04 '16 at 11:31
  • @Tezz: any way , I m looking for answer someone will answer that I hope with evidence . – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 11:39
  • There are two strong points in accepting authenticity of a scripture, they are internal consistency(should be consistent with other authenticated scriptures) and no conflict with shruti(i.e should not be in disagreement with shruti). Iff both conditions are satisfied we can consider that scripture authentic, now apply that for Bramhan Samhita – Yogi Jun 04 '16 at 12:26
  • @Yogi, It's totally conflict with the scripture/vedas as well as with shruti, In vedas/sruti ,There is no such discrimination of lord form as per the qualities... – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 12:36
  • You mean the 16 kala concept which they use to establish Supremacy of Lord Krishna in all avatars? Similar theory is followed by Ramanandi's who belive Rama is highest as he is most sattvic and Dharma Parayan. I think Krishna being purna avatar is true, but according to Pancharatra he is an incarnation of Vuyha avatar. – Yogi Jun 04 '16 at 12:49
  • @Yogi, few mins ago I read about ramanandi ... they belive like same as iskcon is belive, I am not opposing , I knew that Krishna is pure incarnation of Lord Narayan, but the way they use brahmasamhita without evidence is might be wrong, As a Sri-Vaisnava we do not make any difference between Lord name , Lord form and Lord Him-self, but they create discrimination through the Brahmasamhita, so,that's wired. – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 12:55
  • Are you a prapanna or uninitiated sri vaishnava? Yeah we believe that Shriman Narayana is antaryami of all incarnations so he is the source of every incarnation. – Yogi Jun 04 '16 at 13:07
  • @Yogi: Yes, borther I am Prapanna (initiated) Sri-Vaishnava... – Shree Krishna Jun 04 '16 at 13:10

3 Answers3

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Anyway, if I may, I would like to explain our reasoning behind why we accept unorthodox scriptures like the Brahma Samhita. There is unfortunately a lot of misconceptions about Gaudiya Vaishnavism and this is soiling the view the Hindu community has of it.

First of all, in Hinduism there are a lot of sects and sampradayas and they all have, at times, quite differing beliefs. This is because the acharyas of those sects use different shastras in order to support their siddhanta. The categorization of the Puranas, for example, as sattva,raja and tamo and the verses that contribute to this are accepted by the Vaishnav schools, but rejected by the others. Some Hindu Sampradayas accept only the Karma Khanda portions of the Vedas and reject the Upanishads. Even in the study of Vedanta, there is a lot of difference. The traditional 3 schools of Vedanta (Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhavacharya) focus on the prasthana-trayi, while we Gaudiyas for example, focus on Srimad Bhagavatam (as we interpret that to be the essence of Vedanta).

What, in essence, I am saying is that even Vedic authority derives itself from the Guru Parampara. It is the foundation of all knowledge, because the Guru (and acharyas) tell us which scripture is authentic and which are interpolated. That is why, we Gaudiyas accept Brahma Samhita, because it was a shastra which was believed by our acharyas (like Jiva Goswami and Bhaktivinoda Thakur) to be authentic. In Chaitanya Charitamrta it is told that Lord Chaitanya traveled to South India (Tamil Nadu) and found a copy of one chapter of the Samhita and copied it by hand. So Brahma Samhita is authentic to us, and the evidence is because Lord Chaitanya and our Acharyas accept it. In-fact this is the case for many if not all Sampradayas. For example one may raise the question; "Why should we accept the Prasthana Trayi? Such a concept is in-fact not found anywhere in Sruti or Smrti" The answer to that of-course is we accept Prathana Trayi because we have faith in the words of Acharyas like Sankaracharya and Ramanunajacharya who accepted them also. The source of all knowledge is in actuality faith in the Acharyas. Trying to approach the scriptures in any other way, will often lead a student to great confusion. That is why Sruti declares:

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ

Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)

Sarvabhouma
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Nitai dasa
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    Yeah , but you can't do offense to discriminate the lord form , I m not against the Krishna is Supreme ,I m against the discrimination which you made trough it, because if you can give the example of so call brahma samhita, then I can give the example of so many scriptures which all sampradaye accepted including your, because it is totally baseless and also worthless when create discriminate of lord's also....so that's my point I m disagree for brahma-samhita, because its make lots of contradictions to others scriptures also.. – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:15
  • I respect your beliefs towards your acharayas, you must be respect them, but my point is that doesn't mean you spread ignorance in the people, – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:17
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    And the point is that you can't consider only acharaya, but you have to consider shruti , other authentic scriptures and guru, if they all are right then the scriptures or upanisads are authentic.. – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:31
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    @ShreeKrishna Pranam. Before one can shout ignorance, one must know knowledge and that differs from Sampradaya to Sampradaya. One should respect the diversity, and understand why these differences are there, rather then call others ignorant. A Vaishnav is always humble and never sees faults in others. Just see how Rupa Goswami so respectfully welcomed Sriman Vallabhacharya. I don't think we are purposely spreading ignorance; simply following the instruction of the Guru Varga on our heads. /\ So I must humbly disagree here. – Nitai dasa Jun 08 '16 at 15:33
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    Yeah, but.that's true brother.. I feel it , I spent 1/5 years with iskcon. And mostly my friends from Iskcon, but the main thing is that you put so much discrimination in the people, I experienced it..so that's why – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:36
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    I m not simply put the things and make the story, that's the fact I m saying.. – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:37
  • Brahma Samhita is very dear to us, because Lord Chaitanya is accepting it. We are not even asking other Sampradayas to accept it. Simply that they give understand why we hold it with such esteem. All of Visnu Tattva are generally equal in potency, (we follow Srila Madhavacharya on this matter) but only on the matter of Rasa Vicara do we differ. This Swayam Bhagavatta of Sri Krsna was defended quite well by Jiva Goswami in his Krsna Sandarbha. All this claims we make, are for the devotees following our Sampradaya, and we never mean to demean those pure Vaishnavs doing pure bhakti in others. /\ – Nitai dasa Jun 08 '16 at 15:38
  • That is why, you can ask any doubts, and we can try and answer. Try to understand each other :). We all follow the same Lord after all /\ Lord Madhava is not pleased with showcases of knowledge, only Bhakti. – Nitai dasa Jun 08 '16 at 15:40
  • So, That's not meaning you do offense of other Vaisnav sampradaye., its not bhakti , and if you called that the bhakti then I don't think the sampradaye consider as Madhavacharaya sampradaye. – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:41
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Shree Krishna Jun 08 '16 at 15:42
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Gaudiya Vaishnavas believe Lord Krishna is the Supreme Brahman and Brahma Samhita also describes the same.

Brahma Samhita 5.1:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Translation: Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

The above verse describes Lord Krishna is the origin of everything and all the other verses glorifies Him.

Why do they Gaudiya Vaishnavas believe in Brahma Samhita?

Because Brahma Samhita is one of the Pancharatra texts which are most popular among Vaishnavas.

Here is the list of Pancharatra agamas from wiki:

Agastya-Samhita, Aniruddha-Samhita, Ahirbudhnya Samhita, Brahma Samhita, Brihat-Brahma-Samhita, Isvara-Samhita, Kapinjala-Samhita, Garga Samhita, Gautama-Samhita, Citrasikhandi-Samhita, Jayakhya-Samhita.... (mentioned few from list)

It is also believed that there were 100 chapters in the Brahma Samhita. This 5th chapter is the only chapter available now and was discovered by Chaitanya.

And not only Gaudiya Vaishnavas but Nimbarka sect, Vallabhacharya sect, Pranami sect and Radha Vallabha sect also worship Lord Krishna as Supreme.

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पूर्ण: पूर्णावतारश्च श्यामो रामो रघुद्वह:।

अंशा नृसिंह कृष्णाध्या राघवो भगवान स्वयम्।।

  • brahma samhita

Full incarnations are shyam (Krishna) Varna raghav (meaning shri Ram). But narsimha and krishna are partial incarnations , shri Ramchandra is swaym bhagwan

रामेति वर्णद्वयमादरेण सदा स्मरन्मुक्तिमुपैति जन्तुः ।

कलौ युगे कल्मषमानसानामन्यत्र धर्मे खलु नाधिकारः ॥

(इति श्रीमद् ब्रह्मसंहिता)

श्री राम नाम के दो अक्षरों का सतत प्रेमपूर्वक स्मरण करते हुए जीव मुक्ति को प्राप्त करता है। कलयुग में मलिन चित्त वालों के लिए अन्य धर्मों (सामर्थ्यहीनताके कारण) का अधिकार नहीं है।

Moreover it is also quoted in bhusundi ramayan and also in brahma vairvat puran [![

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Rambhakt Niroj Prasad
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