The Guru as Described in the Hari-Bhakti-Vilāsa: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The Bhagavad-bhakti-vilāsa, or as it is more commonly known, the Haribhakti-vilāsa (HBV) is a Sanskrit ritual compendium written around 1534 by Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmin (ca. 1501–1586). According to the generally
accepted version (but see De 1939), the author was a brāhmaṇa from Śrī Raṅgam and grand-disciple of the celebrated Bengali mystic and reformer Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (1486–1533), the founder of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava saṃpradāya (for more on the rather complicated question of the authorship of the text, see Dāsa 2001,
xii–xvi). I am at present working with the HBV and have dealt with it on several occasions before (e.g., Broo 2003b, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2016). The HBV is a nibandha, or in the terms of Teun Goudriaan (Goudriaan & Gupta 1981: 141–142), a “ritual compilation,” that is, a Tantric work of usually known authorship, which present material on ritual ceremonies, usually in the form of quotations from older authorities.