Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura

Chapter, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is worthy of superlatives, whether in his scholarship, his expertise in philosophical conclusions, his knowledge of the Vaiṣṇava scriptures, or his poetic talent.

  • viśvasya nātha-rūpo ’sau
    bhakti-vartma-pradarśanāt
    bhakta-cakte vartitatvāt
    cakravarty-ākhyayābhavat

    Because he revealed the path of devotion, he is considered to be identical with the Lord of the Universe, Viśvanātha; and because he was predominant in the circle of Vaiṣṇavas, he held the title Cakravartī.

  • Viśvanātha’s Birth and Disciplic Succession

    Viśvanātha took birth in a family of Rāḍhīya brāhmaṇas in the village of Devagram in Nadia district in about 1560 of the Śaka era (1639 AD). Some others suggest 1576 (1655 AD) as his year of birth. The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna identifies his father as Rāma Nārāyaṇa Cakravartī. His mother’s name is unknown. He had two older brothers, Rāmabhadra and Raghunātha. His spiritual master was Rādhāramaṇa Cakravartī, a disciple of Kṛṣṇacaraṇa Cakravartī. Kṛṣṇacaraṇa Cakravartī was a disciple and, according to some, adopted son of Gaṅgā Nārāyaṇa Cakravartī. Viśvanātha Cakravartī has summarized his guru-paramparā at the beginning of the Rāsa-pañcādhyāya section of his Sārārtha-darśinī commentary on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

    śrī-rāma-kṛṣṇa-gaṅgā-caraṇān natvā gurūn uru-premnaḥ
    śrīla-narottama-nātha-śrī-gaurāṅga-prabhuṁ naumi

    In this verse, Rādhāramaṇa Cakravartī’s name is abbreviated as Rāma, Kṛṣṇacaraṇa’s name as Kṛṣṇa, and Gaṅgā Nārāyaṇa’s name as Gaṅgā. The word nātha refers to the guru of Narottama Ṭhākura, Lokanātha Gosvāmī, whose guru was Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. Thus the entire disciplic succession of Viśvanātha Cakravartī has been given in this one single verse.

  • Viśvanātha’s Studies and Writings

    After completing his studies of grammar in Devagram, Viśvanātha Cakravartī went to Saiyadabad in the Murshidabad district to study devotional scriptures from his guru. According to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna, he was married. Although he was married according to the rites, he never showed the slightest attachment for family life. It is said that he taught his wife the Bhāgavata, giving her a taste for its nectar, and instructed her to devote herself to the worship of the Lord before he left home.

    Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura followed the example of the Gosvāmīs and went to live in Vṛndāvana where he could dedicate himself to devotional life. As a result of his commitment to following the orders of his spiritual master, he received many blessings from him. These blessings took shape in his good fortune to be able to live in various spots in Vraja-dhāma and write a great number of books on Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava subjects, which are considered to be a great treasure by those in the sampradāya. All his books and his commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavata are written in a Sanskrit that is clear and simple but at the same time full of the nectar of devotion.

    In the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math edition of the Bhagavad-gītā, some remarks have been made about Viśvanātha Cakravartī under the heading, “A description of the commentary”. Those comments have been quoted here:

    Cakravartī Ṭhākura has an important place in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava history as the guardian and chief teacher of the middle period between the life of Mahāprabhu and His associates and the modern period. Amongst Vaiṣṇavas of our day, a saying has been preserved about three of his works: kiraṇa-bindu-kaṇā, ei tin niye vaiṣṇava-paṇā—Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s resumes of Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi-kiraṇa), Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu), and Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Bhāgavatāmṛta-kaṇā) are the source of transcendental joy for the Vaiṣṇavas; studying them makes one a Vaiṣṇava.

    After the disappearance of the Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama Ṭhākura and Śyāmānanda Prabhu preserved the pure devotional stream and expanded the movement in Bengal. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is the fourth descendant of the disciplic line from Narottama Ṭhākura. Few ācāryas of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava school have produced works in Sanskrit as he. Besides producing a large corpus of books, Cakravartī Ṭhākura also made other major contributions related to preaching and kīrtana.

    Rūpa Kavirāja, who was excommunicated from Vaiṣṇava society, was the founder of an apa-sampradaya, atibāḍī, which taught that only renunciates were eligible to act as ācārya and that all householders are disqualified. He preached a distorted doctrine of rāgānugā bhakti by completely negating the value of vidhi-mārga, and by minimizing the importance of hearing and chanting. To the benefit of the general public, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has argued against this doctrine in the Sārārtha-darśinī commentary on the Third Canto of the Bhāgavata. Rūpa Kavirāja holds that no householder can take the Gosvāmī title. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura counters this proposition by stating, on the basis of scripture, that any member of a dynasty of gurus who has the proper qualifications is entitled to be called a Gosvāmī, i.e., he can do the work of a guru or ācārya. However, to call one’s unworthy children “Gosvāmī” simply for the purpose of accumulating wealth and disciples is opposed to the scriptural conclusions and is to be considered unlawful, even if born in a family with a tradition of acting gurus.

    Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura wrote Bengali songs under the pen name of Harivallabha Dāsa. Some people say that this name was given to him when he took the dress of a renunciate. In all respects, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is worthy of superlatives, whether in his scholarship, his expertise in philosophical conclusions, his knowledge of the Vaiṣṇava scriptures, or his poetic talent.

    It is said of Viśvanātha Cakravartī that at the place where he wrote the Bhāgavata, even if it rained the water would not wet the leaves on which he wrote. Thus, the ink did not run and the text remained intact.

    The following is a list of the books written by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura: (1) Vraja-rīti-cintāmaṇi, (2) Camatkāra-candrikā, (3) Prema-sampuṭam, (4) Gītāvalī, (5) Subodhinī commentary to Alaṅkāra-kaustubha, (6) Ānanda-candrikā commentary to Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, (7) a commentary on Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad, (8) Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta mahā-kāvyam, (9) Śrī-Bhāgavatāmṛta-kaṇā, (10) Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi-kiraṇa-leśa, (11) Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu, (12) Rāga-vartma-candrikā, (13) Aiśvarya-kādambinī, which appears to have been lost, (14) Mādhurya-kādambinī, (15) Bhakti-sāra-pradarśinī, a commentary on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, (16) Ānanda-candrikā, a commentary on the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, (17) a commentary on the Dānakeli-kaumudī, (18) a commentary on the Lalita-mādhava, (19) an incomplete commentary on Caitanya Caritāmṛta, (20) a commentary on the Brahma-saṁhitā, (21) Sārārtha-varṣiṇī, a commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā, (22) Sārārtha-darśinī, a commentary on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

    He also wrote a number of small works which have been brought together in the collection known as Stavāmṛta-laharī: (1) Guru-tattvāṣṭakam, (2) Mantra-dātṛ-guroraṣṭakam, (3) Parama-guror-aṣṭakam, (4) Parātpara-guror-aṣṭakam, (5) Parama-parātpara-guror-aṣṭakam, (6) Śrī-Lokanāthāṣṭakam, (7) Śrī-Narottamāṣṭaka, (8) Śrī-Śacīnandanāṣṭakam, (9) Śrī-Svarūpa-caritāmṛtam, (10) Svapna-vilāsāmṛtam, (11) Śrī-Gopāladevāṣṭakam, (12) Śrī-Madana-mohanāṣṭakam, (13) Śrī-Govindāṣṭakam, (14) Śrī-Gopīnāthāṣṭakam, (15) Śrī-Gokulānandāṣṭakam, (16) Svayaṁ Bhagavad-aṣṭakam, (17) Śrī-Rādhā-kuṇḍāṣṭakam, (18) Jaganmohanāṣṭakam, (19) Anurāgavallī, (20) Śrī-Vṛndādevī-aṣṭakam, (21) Śrī-Vṛndāvanāṣṭakam, (22) Śrī-Rādhikā-dhyānāmṛtam, (23) Śrī-Rūpa-cintāmaṇi, (24) Śrī-Nandīśvarāṣṭakam, (25) Śrī-Govardhanāṣṭakam, (26) Śrī-Saṅkalpa-kalpa-druma, (27) Śrī-Nikuñja-virudāvalī, (28) Śrī-Surata-kathāmṛtam, and (29) Śrī-Śyāmakuṇḍāṣṭakam.

  • Viśvanātha’s Student Baladeva

    When Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was old and hampered in his ability to travel, the ācāryas of the Rāmanuja sampradāya in the Galta village of Jaipur attempted to convert the king of Jaipur to their school by accusing that the Gauḍīyas do not have a tie to any one of the four Vaiṣṇava disciplic successions. They advised the king of Jaipur to take initiation from someone in the Rāmānuja line. The king was confused by their arguments and asked Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, who was the most prominent ācārya of the Gauḍīya school at that time, to come to Jaipur and answer the questions posed by the Rāmānuja group. Due to his advanced age, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was unable to go, but in his stead he sent his student of Bhāgavata, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, to defend the line.

    Kṛṣṇa Deva, a disciple of Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, accompanied Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa. One of the arguments of the Rāmānujīs was that the Gauḍīya school had no commentary of its own on the Vedānta and hence cannot be accepted as an authentic lineage. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Prabhu asked the accusers for some time—seven days according to some, three months according to others—to write a Gauḍīya commentary on Vedānta. He was given the time and then he went to the Govinda Temple and prayed to his guru and to the Lord to give him the power to write such a commentary. Govindajī’s garland fell from around His neck and the pūjārīs placed it on Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Prabhu’s chest.

    With the guru’s, Vaiṣṇava’s and Lord’s blessings, even the impossible becomes possible. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Prabhu undertook the writing of comments to the 500 sūtras of the Brahma-sūtra with the subtle aspects of the divine aesthetics revealed in the pure devotional line of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava thought, completing it in the limited time given him. When he went to Galta, the scholars of the other sampradāyas were astonished to hear his commentary, which has the highest divine sentiment. Because Govindajī Himself had ordered its writing, the commentary became known as the Govinda-bhāṣya. It was after completing this commentary that Baladeva received the Vidyābhūṣaṇa title.

    Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura established the service of Gokulānanda and the Gokulānandajī Temple still stands in Vṛndāvana. He left this world in Rādhā-kuṇḍa in around 1630 of the Śaka era (1709 AD). The tithi was either the śuklā or kṛṣṇā pañcamī of the month of Māgha.

Excerpt from "Sri Chaitanya: His Life and Associates" by Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

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