Theological and Ritual
We have more than once already indicated the peculiar position of authority held by the Vrindāvan Gosvāmīs because of their scholarship and devotion.
Men of great gifts, inspired and ennobled by their devotion to Chaitanya, they dedicated their intellectual energies to the service and exaltation of their faith. The most minute and laborious scholarship was blended in them with the devotion of the saint.
They were truly scholars, first of all, having spent long years in patient mastery of Sanskrit grammar, logic and philosophy,
but the master motive that used this immense learning was the love of bhakti, the devotion of the heart to the service of Krishna, as it had captivated their hearts forever in the life of Chaitanya.
Throughout long lives, therefore, the intellectual powers of these scholar ascetics were consecrated to the theological tasks of their faith.
For them something new had been added to the bhakti cult in Chaitanya’s life. They set themselves, therefore, to the task of a re-statement of the bhakti philosophy in the light of that life.
Fresh commentaries on the bhakti śāstras were required, and the elaboration of ritual codes for the detailed guidance of worshippers in the new sect.
The creation of a new theology was involved, and an elaborate exposition of that theology in all the realms of Sanskrit learning.
Thus we find these scholars writing on grammar, logic, rhetoric and drama, but always in the light of their theology and with a view to its more complete exposition.
Like the Schoolmen of Europe, their theology was to them the queen of the sciences; to it all knowledge was tributary, and out of it were the issues of life.
The enumeration of the principal works of the sect in theology and ritual can hardly be more than a catalogue of names,
but it will at least serve to give the reader some indication of the immense industry of these men, and can hardly fail to impress him with a sense of the tremendous devotion inspired in their lives that could bring forth so great a result.
It seems preferable to group each author's works together rather than to list them all in exact chronological sequence. Only those of importance are given.
Rūpa
Of Rūpa’s many works, all in Sanskrit, the two most important theologically are the Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu and the Ujjvalanīlamaṇi.
The first is an exhaustive treatise on bhakti, surveying the whole of the literature of Vaishnavism up to his day. It is an elaborate analysis of the religious feelings in the terms of the love philosophy of the Rādhā-Krishna cult.
Read Online =>>Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu<<=
The second, while ostensibly treating of rhetoric, is in reality also a work on bhakti:
In this work is to be found the elaborate classification of the emotions and moods of love, which has given the Chaitanya theologians pre-eminence as specialists in this regard.
The Bhāgavatāmṛitam is a selection of stories from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
The Gaṇadveśadīpikā is an exposition of that peculiar phase of the sect's theology which sees in its great saints and leaders incarnations of the gopīs with whom Krishna dallied.
The Mathurā Māhātmya, while scarcely a work on theology, may be mentioned here:
It is a full description of the country round about Mathurā, which is the holy land of the Vaishnava, glorified by its connection with Krishna.
Sanātana
The Haribhaktivilāsa is Sanātana's masterpiece. It is a huge work on ritual and is the authority for the sect. It was written, according to the Caritamṛta, at the express command of Chaitanya, and on the basis of the outline suggested by him.
It is a work of great erudition, as every rule is buttressed by reference to ancient authority.
It provides the code of all Vaishnava ceremonial, the whole ritual of temples, and outlines the duties of householders as well as sannyāsīs.
It may be said, however, to deal with the higher phases of Vaishnava worship rather than with the daily worship of the individual.
This work has usually been credited to Gopāl Bhaṭṭa, another of the Vrindāvan Gosvāmīs, but mistakenly so:
Sanātana’s defection from Hinduism to Islam, before he came under Chaitanya's influence, was never forgotten by the Hindu community. In orthodox eyes he was forever an outcaste.
It was in order that this prejudice might not hinder the use of his book that his name was never officially associated with it.
But the record in the Caritamṛta and the testimony of Jīva Gosvāmī, the nephew of Rūpa and Sanātana, make his authorship clear.
The Dikprakāśikā is a commentary on the larger work, written by Sanātana himself.
In the field of theology Sanātana’s great work is a commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, known as the Vaiṣṇava-toṣiṇī.
He also wrote a Bhāgavatāmṛitam, with commentaries on the work.
Jīva
The nephew of Rūpa and Sanātana, Jīva was probably the greatest theologian of the Vrindāvan group.
His chief work is the Satsandarbha, on philosophy, surveying the whole philosophical basis of Vaishnavism with great learning and power. This work served for a long time instead of a sectarian bhāṣya on the Vedanta Sūtras, and has always been held in great authority.
The Laghutoṣiṇī is a commentary on the Vaiṣṇava-toṣiṇī of Sanātana; and the Durgama Saṅgamaṇi a commentary on Rūpa's Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu.
He also wrote commentaries on the two favourite works which Chaitanya found in his travels, the Brahma Samhitā and the Kṛṣṇakarṇāmṛita.
A work on ritual by Jīva is the Kṛṣṇārcaṇadīpikā, dealing with the worship of Krishna.
As many as 25 Sanskrit works are ascribed to Jīva.
Raghunātha Dās
In his Chaitanya and His Companions, Dr. Sen lists 13 Sanskrit works written by this man, and says there are 28 altogether. This ascetic was popularly known as "Dās Gosvāmī," and was one of the saintliest in the Vrindāvan circle.
His works treat more of the mystical side of the Rādhā- Krishna worship, but they do not seem to have attained the prominence of those mentioned above.
Gopāl Bhaṭṭa
As we have noted, this man's name has been associated with Sanātana’s Haribhaktivilāsa.
There is some ground for this other than has been mentioned, in that Gopal Bhaṭṭa did enlarge upon Sanātana’s work and added some illustrations of his own. No other work of importance is ascribed to him.
Krishna Dās Kavirāj
Besides the Kavirāj's magnum opus on the life of Chaitanya, he produced many other works in Sanskrit and Bengali, some of which are held in high esteem:
Especially well known is the Govinda-līlāmṛita, on the amours of Rādhā and Krishna, translated into Bengali by the author of Karṇānanda.
The Saraṅgaraṅgadā is a commentary on Bilvamaṅgala's Kṛṣṇakarṇāmṛita, the work so beloved of Chaitanya, and the Premaratnāvali is a treatise on bhakti theology.
A small and popular work on theology, written in Bengali during the second great period of the sect, is the Premabhakti Chandrikā, by the revered Narottama. Both because of its saintly author and its subject matter this work is greatly valued by Vaishnavas.
Of a later generation two names stand out:
At the beginning of the 18th century Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote the Govinda Bhāṣya on the Vedānta Sutras, to meet the need for a sectarian bhāṣya which had been felt for a long time. This has been much used;
but a shorter work by the same author, the Prameya Ratnāvali, is also popular.
The last theological work of importance produced in the sect was the commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, by Viśvanātha Chakravarti, written about 1704.
It is held in high regard among Vaishnavas as an authoritative exposition of their faith:
It rejects the svakīya as opposed to the parakīya doctrine, and strongly upholds the latter, i.e. that the gopis of Vrindāvan were the mistresses of Krishna and not his wives.
The above works represent the better-known productions of the sect. They do not by any means exhaust its theological writing.
In the History of Bengali Language and Literature we find a list of 40 briefer theological works by Vaishnava authors, exclusive of the considerable theological writing advocating the Sahajiyā doctrines.
Before closing the list, mention should be made of certain humbler works which play a considerable part in the lives of the rank and file among the Bengal Vaishnavas:
The Saṅskāradīpikā is a manual on ritual of unknown authorship, which sets forth the rules as followed in most ākhrās. It is drawn from the Haribhaktivilāsa, but is adapted to the types of Vaishnava life that came into existence after that great authority was written.
A still humbler work, but widely used, is the Bhogmālāvivaraṇa, a collection of rules for worship, written in Sanskrit.