The Caitanya Vaiß∫ava Vedånta of Jîva Gosvåmî: When Knowledge Meets Devotion. By Ravi M. Gupta: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

According to the Chaitanya Charitamrta, Krishna Das Kaviraj’s 16th-century opus, the Bengali brahmin Shri Chaitanya had taken formal initiation as a sannyasi (Hindu renunciate) to win the respect of India’s intellectual class so that his mission could flourish, but he still met with some frustration. He had wanted to “drown” the entire world in an ocean of love for the god Krishna, but the monistic Advaitins had escaped. Chaitanya’s la­ment is typical of the market tropes that flavor his tradition. “I have come here to sell My emotional ecstatic sentiments in this city of Kashi but I cannot find any customers. If they are not sold, I must take them back home. I
have brought a heavy load to sell in this city. To take it back again is a very difficult job; therefore if I get but a fraction of the price, I shall sell it here in this city of Kashi.” Chaitanya’s school, the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya, is dedicated to revealing the rays of Chaitanya’s ecstatic “benediction moon.”
Accordingly, the Chatuhsutri Tika of Chaitanya follower Jiva Gosvami (d. 1608) is no mere speculative treatise on Vedanta, but it is rare to read such discerning arguments for spiritual devotion as advanced by Jiva and explained in Ravi M. Gupta’s 2007 book, The Chaitanya Vaishnava Vedanta of Jiva Go­svami: When Knowledge Meets Devotion.