Text library
Canonical Sanskrit texts with word-by-word analysis and commentary.
श्Bhagavad GitaThe dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the field of Kurukṣetra — the heart of Vedic wisdom on the soul, dharma, yoga and devotion. Sanskrit, transliteration, word-by-word and literary translation.RUENESHIZHश्Brahma-saṁhitāThe Brahma-saṁhitā is the hymn with which Brahmā the creator praises Govinda after seeing His abode. Of the saṁhitā's hundred chapters one survives — the fifth: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu found its manuscript in 1512 in the Ādi-keśava temple in South India and brought it to Bengal, and since then it has been read as a book in its own right. Sixty-two verses: the structure of Gokula, the generation of the material world, Brahmā's appearance in darkness and the mantra given to him, and then twenty-eight stanzas with a single refrain — govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, "Govinda, the primeval Lord, Him I worship." Here too are the famous verses on Kṛṣṇa as the source of all descents (5.39), on the impersonal Brahman as His effulgence (5.40), and on His being seen by an eye anointed with love (5.38). The bare text is given with word-by-word glosses, a literary translation and commentary; Jīva Gosvāmī's Dig-darśinī ṭīkā is not part of this book.RUदिDig-darśinī ṭīkā of Jīva GosvāmīThe Dig-darśinī is Jīva Gosvāmī's sixteenth-century commentary on the fifth chapter of the Brahma-saṁhitā. The name means "showing the direction": Jīva does not gloss every line to the end, he points out where to look. He opens with verses of his own, calling Sanātana his elder brother and Rūpa his refuge, and observes that the one surviving chapter stands to the whole saṁhitā as a sūtra stands to a work; then, on the first verse alone, he unfolds an entire study of the name Kṛṣṇa — with the etymology kṛṣ + ṇa and testimonies from the Padma and Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇas, the Gautamīya-tantra and the Gopāla-tāpanī — establishing what for the Gauḍīyas decides everything: Kṛṣṇa is not one of the descents but the one they come from. Each unit gives the verse and the ṭīkā, both with word-by-word glosses and a literary translation, followed by our commentary.RUहरHarivamsaAn appendix to the Mahābhārata that glorifies the lineage of Hari and reveals the origin, advent and deeds of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.RUमहMahabharataThe great epic of Vyāsa. Its original name is “Jaya” (“Victory”). It contains the Bhagavad-gītā (Bhīṣma-parva) and is one of the key sources of Vedic philosophy.RUराRamayanaThe ancient epic of Vālmīki on the life of Lord Rāma — His dharma, exile, the search for Sītā and the victory over Rāvaṇa.RUउपUpanishadsThe Upaniṣads — the philosophical core of the Vedic tradition, revealing the nature of Brahman, the Ātman, knowledge, action and liberation. The ten principal Upaniṣads together with select minor Vaiṣṇava Upaniṣads.RUENब्Vedānta-sūtraThe Vedānta-sūtra (Brahma-sūtra) of Bādarāyaṇa Vyāsa — a corpus of maximally terse aphorisms that systematizes the teaching of the Upaniṣads. Four chapters: harmonizing the texts on Brahman, answering the opponents, the path of attainment, and the fruit — liberation. This book gives the bare sūtra text with word-by-word glosses and a literary translation, without commentary; the commentaries of the principal Vedānta schools are published as separate books. The text follows the Madhva recension (564 sūtras) — the Brahma-Madhva line in which the Gauḍīya Govinda-bhāṣya was also written; schools count the sūtras differently (Rāmānuja 545, Śaṅkara 555).RUगोGovinda-bhāṣyaThe Govinda-bhāṣya of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa (18th c.) — the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, written in the Brahma-Madhva line. Tradition holds that it was composed in Jaipur by the blessing of Govinda Himself — the deity of Rūpa Gosvāmī — whence its name. Its teaching is acintya-bhedābheda: the Brahman of the sūtras is Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Govinda) endowed with countless attributes; the world is a transformation of His energy (śakti-pariṇāma), not of Himself; the jīva is His eternal separated particle; the means is bhakti, the fruit — eternal service to Him in a liberation without return. This book gives a Russian exposition of the commentary: for each sūtra, its reading per Baladeva and a condensed account of his argument. Word-by-word glosses are in the companion Vedānta-sūtra book; sūtra numbering may differ slightly from printed editions of the bhāṣya.RU