The Vedic Scriptures

The following important Vedic scriptures will be presented here in brief:

Brahma-Saṃhitā

Brahma-Saṃhitā ("The Song of Brahmā") consists of 100 chapters, of which the fifth chapter is the most important. It became famous after Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Lord, brought it to Jagannatha Puri from the Adi-Kesava temple in Tiruvattar on his pilgrimage through South India about 500 years ago, to the delight of His devotees.

In the hymns of this book, Brahmā glorifies the Supreme Lord, Govinda, along with His various aspects.

In the 16th century, Śrīla Jiva Goswami wrote a commentary on the verses of Chapter 5, and in the early 20th century Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur translated the book from Sanskrit into English with his own commentaries. Jiva Goswami and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur are acaryas, spiritual teachers of the Gaudiya-Vaiṣṇava-Sampradaya, which emanates from Brahmā.

Śrīla Bhaktivinod Thakur, acarya in the Gaudiya-Vaiṣṇava-Sampradaya and father and siksa-guru of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, writes in a commentary on the Brahmā-Saṃhitā:

“Indeed, Brahmā-Saṃhitā is unprecedented and unique among the literature of the bhakti tradition. It is filled with descriptions of the paramount glories of Svayam Bhagavan Śrī Govindadeva, and with knowledge of the essential reality of the Supreme Personality and the essential reality of bhakti. It is as if a vast ocean has been bottled in one succinct treatise. Here one will find the collected essence of all Vaiṣṇava scripture, including the Vedas, the Purāṇas, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīman Mahāprabhu had this great literature copied very carefully, and then He brought it back with Him to Śrīdhama Jagannatha Puri.”

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur writes in the preface to his translation of the Brahmā-Saṃhitā:

“Our recitation of Brahmā-Saṃhitā will be considered successful when we become the followers of Caturmukha Brahmā and attain the mercy of Bhagavan, and when we can become the receptacles of love of God through singing these divine hymns in praise of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. At that time we will be able to understand that Śrī Radha-Govinda, the embodiments of sweet human-like pastimes, exist in the form of Śrī Gaurasundara. Śrī Gaurasundara resides in the most elevated realm of service to the genuine supreme predominating enjoyer, who possesses all opulence.”

The first verse of this work reads: