

118. JIVA GOSVAMI

 (Caitanya sakha)  He was one of the six gosvamis of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya.  Vaisnavadikadarsani provides the following information about him:

 He was born in 1445 or 1435 saka (1523 or 1513 AD.), in either Abhirbhava-Sukla tritiya of Pausa (Dec-Jan) or Tirebhava-Sukla tritiya of Asvina (Sept-Oct). He was alive for eighty-five years, twenty years of which he lived at home and sixty-five yea
rs were spent in Vrndavana.  Jiva's father was named Vallabha, although he was more commonly known as Anupama which was the name given to him by Lord Caitanya.  Jiva lived in three places; Bakula Candradvipa, Fateyavad, and Ramakeli.  He spent more t
ime at Ramakeli with Rupa and Sanatana, the two elder brothers of his father Vallabha.  Rupa and Sanatana were the ministers in the royal court of King Hussain Shah.

 When Lord Caitanya visited Ramakeli, Jiva, who was a mere boy, secretly had darsana of the Lord.  That darsana had such an impact upon Jiva that he immediately gave up playing like a child and developed Caitanya-anuraga. Thereafter, Rupa, Sanatana a
nd Vallabha went to Vrndavana.  After visiting Vrndavana, Rupa and Vallabha left for Nilacala and along the way Vallabha passed away. Jiva was deeply grieved by the loss of his father and a mood of detachment from all worldly comforts arose within hi
m.   One night Lord Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu appeared to him in a dream, which inspired him to leave Candradvipa and set out for Navadvipa, telling his family members that he was going away to study.  Near Fateyavad he got rid of his escorts, k
eeping only one of them with him.

 Jiva had a fair complexion and extremely handsome features.  Upon arriving in Navadvipa he had the good fortune of receiving Nityananda Prabhu's grace, who touched Jiva's head with His feet.  The devotees of Navadvipa, including Srinivasa, took grea
t care of Jiva, and Jiva was extremely grateful.  Nityananda Prabhu took Jiva on parikrama to all the places of Mahaprabhu's pastimes in Navadvipa.  Thereafter Jiva requested Nityananda Prabhu to either permit him to go to Nilacala or else allow him
to remain as Nityananda Prabhu's lifelong companion. However, Nityananda Prabhu denied both requests and commanded Jiva to first go to Kasi and study Vedanta, philosophy, etc. under Madhusudana Vacaspati and then go to Vrndavana.  (After Vasudeva Sar
vabhauma admitted defeat to Lord Caitanya, he taught his favorite disciple, Madhusudana Vacaspati the philosophy of Lord Caitanya.)

 Taking leave of Nityananda Prabhu, Jiva went to the house of Tapana Misra at Kasi and completed his study of Vedanta, Nyaya, etc. under Madhusudana Vacaspati.  In that sense Madhusudana was Jiva's Vaidantika guru (Bhaktiratnakara).  Thereafter Jiva
went to Vrndavana and Rupa and Sanatana, Jiva's uncles, happily received their nephew.  Jiva then received diksa from Rupa Gosvami.

 The following are the works of Jiva Gosvami in Sanskrit:

1.  Satsandarbha (on philosophy)
2.  Gopalacampu
3.  Govinda Virudavali
4.  Harinamamrta Vyakarana (This vyakarana has been written
    exclusively on the basis of the lessons imparted by Lord
    Caitanya after His return from Gaya.  Study of this
    book will benefit a reader not only in vyakarana but
    also in Bhaktisastra.)
5.  Dhatusutramalika (Vyakarana)
6.  Madhuvamahotsava
7.  Samkalpa Kalpavringa
8.  Radhakrsnera Pada Cinha-vinirnaya Grantha
9.  Tika of Ujjalanilamani
10. Tika of Bhatirasamrtasindhu
11. Tika of Gopalatapani Upanisada
12. Tika of Brahmasamhitopanisada
13. Agnipuraniya Gayatribhasya
14. Vaisnavatosani (Tika of Srimad Bhagavatam)
15. Bhagavata Sandarbha (at the command of Rupa and
    Sanatana)
16. Muktacaritra
17. Sarasamgraha

 At the end of each of his books Jiva Gosvami has mentioned the saka period in which it was completed.

 In Vrndavana Jiva defeated two renowned scholars in debate.  Bhaktamala mentions one of these incidents, and Premavilasa discusses his encounter with Rupanarayana.

 Once Vallabha Bhatta, the renowned scholar and proud founder of the Vaisnava Vallabha sampradaya, had an encounter with Jiva Gosvami which is described as follows:
 While Rupa Gosvami was writing the manuscript of his book  Bhaktirasamrtasindhu, Vallabha Bhatta arrived there, took  the papers from Rupa, glanced through them, and before  leaving pointed out the mistakes in a sloka.  Jiva Gosvami  could not toler
ate the insult to his guru, Rupa. However, instead of taking up the issue in the presence of his guru, Jiva quietly left the place one the pretext of fetching water and accosted Vallabha on the road.  A long argument ensued and ultimately Vallabha ad
mitted defeat.  The following day, Vallabha came to Rupa's house and praised the talent of Jiva.  Rupa did not appreciate his nephew's action and chastised Jiva saying that he was still unable to control his mind and as such he should leave the place
 and return only after he had succeeded in doing so.  Following the command of his guru, Jiva went to the outskirts of Vrndavana and, with the intention of giving up his life, lay on the ground refusing to bathe or take any food. However, after Sanat
ana returned, he requested Rupa to pardon Jiva and thus he was brought back home.

 Under similar circumstances Jiva defeated another digvijaya pandita by argument on sastra which continued for seven days.

 The following is the genealogical table of Jiva Gosvami:

Jagad Guru 1381 AD., Raja of Karnata
Aniruddha became raja in 1416 AD.
                            |
                      ______|_______
                      |            |
                Rupesvara       Harihara
                      |
                Padmanava (born in 1386 AD.)
                      |
    __________________|________________________
   |             |          |        |        |
Purusottama  Jagannatha  Narayana  Murari   Mukunda
                                              |
                                              |
                  ____________________________|____________
                  |       |       |       |       |       |
                 (1)     (2)     (3)  Sanatana   Rupa Vallabha
                                                          |
                                                          |
                                                       Sri Jiva

119. JIVANA:

 He was a disciple of Rasikananda prabhu (Rasikamangala Pascima 14.252).

120. JIVANA CAKRAVARTI:

 He was a poor brahmana resident of Manakar in the district of Burdwan.  He was known to be an avaricious person, however he lived at Kasi and worshipped Lord Siva for many years.  Ultimately, at the command of Lord Siva, he went to Vrndavana to meet
 Sanatana Gosvami, but when he actually had the opportunity to receive a philosopher's stone he discarded it and became Sanatana Gosvami's disciple.

121. JNANADASA:

He was a famous Vaisnava padakarta.  Jnanadasa was a disciple of Jahnava devi, wife of Nityananda Prabhu (CC. 1.11.52).  According to GVA he was born around 1531 AD. in a Radha class brahmana family in Kandra village near Katoa in the district of Bur
dwan.  However, according to Visvakos, Vol. VII, p.249 his date of birth is unknown, but being a contemporary of Vrndavanadasa it may be assumed that he was alive about 400 years ago.  It is also stated elsewhere (Bhaktiratnakara) that he was born in
 Kandra village about four miles from Ekacakra in the district of Birbhum.

 After receiving diksa from Jahnava devi he became completely engrossed in Krsnaprema, which is evident from his composition of padas.  Apart from being a poet, Jnanadasa was a renowned musician.  At one time he went to his native village were he pro
pagated Bhuvana-mangala Harinama, that is how he became known as Mangala Thakura. Because of his handsome appearance people also called him by the name Madanmangala.

 Due to a strong tendency for vairagya from his teenage years Jnanadasa did not marry.  Despite this fact, descendants in his family line, claim to be direct descendants of Mangala Thakura.  The disappearance day of Jnanadasa is celebrated every year
 on the Pausa Purvana tithi and a mela is held for three days.  Some of the descendants of his cousin-brother who live at Kutulpura village in Bankura district also claim to belong to the family of Mangala Thakura.

 Jnanadasa composed several padavali's imitating the style and prosody of Vidyapati and Candidasa.  His writings of padas in Bengali and Vrajavuli are lucid and full of grace.  Some of his writings are noted as follows:

1.  Purva ranga
2.  Sakhisiksa
3.  Milana
4.  Naukakhanda
5.  Murali-siksa
6.  Gosthavihara
7.  Mana
8.  Mathura
9.  Prasnadutika

(GVA and Visvakos Vol. VII, p.247-248)

122. JNANADEVA:

 Jnanadeva was a renowned sastravetta and sadhu.  His father, Viththalapantha, was a brahmana of the Yajurvedi class from south India, and a resident of Alandi. Viththala took sannyasa in his youth without obtaining permission from his wife and for t
his mistake he had to return home.  According to the prevailing custom of the place, a sannyasi was forbidden to become a householder, thus the brahmanas expelled Viththalapantha from society.

 Viththala's eldest son Nivrtti was born in 1273 AD. and the second son, named Jnanadeva, was born in 1275 AD. Thereafter, a son named Sopana and a daughter named Mukta were born.  All the children of Vithala were extremely talented, but Jnanadeva wa
s exceptionally genius.

 When Nivrtti reached the age of eight years, Viththala became anxious to complete the ritual of his son's upanayana.  But no brahmana agreed to perform the ritual because Viththalapantha was a social outcast. Nivrtti understood his parents disappoin
tment and suggested that they all go somewhere for pilgrimage and perform deva-seva in order to receive some divine grace. Thus, Viththala left with his family and went to a place called Trayamvaka, situated on the bank of the river Godavari.  Lord S
iva, in the form of Trayamvakesvara, is worshiped there.  In fact, the origin of the holy Godavari is in a neighboring mountain range.

 The family lived in the house of a local brahmana. Viththala did pradaksina of Brahmagiri everyday with his three sons.  In this way they lived at Trayamvaka for one year.  One day, in course of their daily parikrama, the party was suddenly attacked
 by a tiger.  Viththala somehow managed to run away taking Jnanadeva and Sopana with him, but Nivrtti, while running, lost his way and wound up on a mountainous terrain known as Anjani where he took shelter in a cave.  Inside he found a saint engross
ed in tapasya, so he sat down and waited.

 After a little while, the saint opened his eyes and Nivrtti offered his humble obeisances falling prostrate on the ground.  The saint was a famous yogi named Gaurinatha.  Nivrtti explained how he had happened upon the place and prayed for the saint'
s sat-upadesa. Realizing that the boy was very talented, Gaurinatha instructed him:  "This world is transient and illusory. Only the supreme personality of Godhead is eternal truth. It is the duty of every mortal being to worship the Lord."  Satisfie
d with these instructions, Nivrtti returned home and narrated the whole incident to his two brothers and Mukta.  Following the advice of Gaurinatha, all of Viththala's children devoted themselves to learning the art of Brahmajnana and Upasanapaddhati
 and derived great satisfaction from it.  In due course of time they mastered the art.  However, Jnanadeva's development was remarkably better than the others.  He practiced upasana for some time and then concentrated on yogasadhana.  It is said that
 he mastered the most difficult astasiddhi within six months.

 Viththalapantha was, no doubt, quite happy to see the spiritual advancement of his four children, yet he could not rid himself of the sadness of becoming a social outcast, which had caused such delay in the performance of Nivrtti's upanayana.

 The place called Paitan, where Viththala's ancestors had lived, was famous for producing renowned scholars of sastra.  Thus, Viththala decided to go to Paitan to seek the opinion of experts regarding  his son's upanayana. In Paitan Viththala and fam
ily lived in the house of his maternal uncle, Krsnajivapantha.  On appraising his nephew's problem, Krsnajiva organized a big conference of brahmana pandita's.  During general discourses, the subject of Viththala's social position and its possible re
ctification came up.  After going through various opinions recorded in sastras, the attending scholars came to the conclusion that a sannyasi can never become a grhasta.  Krsnajiva's effort to help Viththala to overcome his problem not only proved fu
tile, but actually backfired on him, as the experts in sastra opined that Krsnajiva should also become a social outcast for having allowed Viththalapantha to live in his house.

 This unforeseen turn of events caused Viththala to sink even further into the depths of despair.  However, Viththala recovered somewhat from his grief when Nivrtti and Jnanadeva convinced him that upanayana was a mere ritual and had no relation with
 the soul.

 Shortly thereafter, Krsnajiva's father passed away and while making preparations for his late father's sradhha ceremony, Krsnajiva sent invitations to five brahmanas.  In view of the fact that Krsnajiva had been expelled from the society, the five b
rahmanas declined to participate in the ceremony.  Greatly distressed, Krsnajiva decided to cancel all arrangements for the sradhha ceremony.  When Jnanadeva came to know about Krsnajiva's decision, he persuaded him to continue with the arrangements
and assured Krsnajiva that he would perform the work of the priest and would also ensure that five brahmanas would be present to partake of meals. Having faith in Jnanadeva's knowledge and wisdom, Krsnajiva proceeded with the arrangements.

 On the day of the ceremony, Jnanadeva performed the function of the priest by chanting the usual mantras and then, by applying his yogic power, called the deceased fathers of the five brahmanas concerned to appear in person.  As per the yogic comman
d of Jnanadeva, the deceased persons manifested themselves on the scene and took their respective seats.  Thereafter, each of them performed the ritualistic chanting of mantras and began to partake of their meals.  In the meantime the neighbors came
to know that some brahmanas were having their meals. Out of curiosity they sent one person inside to identify the brahmanas.  He was shocked to see the five brahmanas, who had died some time ago, participating in the ceremony.  He promptly called the
 respective sons of the deceased brahmanas and brought them to witness the incident.  The five brahmanas, who had earlier refused the invitation of Krsnajiva, were dumfounded and before they could recover from the shock, the five participant brahmana
s disappeared.  The news of Jnanadeva's supernatural power spread like wild fire and people from far and wide began to regard Jnanadeva as the incarnation of Lord Narayana.

 Once a large number of devotees congregated on the bank of the Godavari on the occasion of Kumbha-yoga. Some brahmanas present there approached Viththalapantha and began speaking with him.  Meanwhile, a man and his buffalo, named Jnana, arrived ther
e.  The owner of the buffalo addressed the animal saying, "Come along Jnana." Hearing this one of the brahmana's said, "Viththala's second son is named Jnana and this buffalo is also named Jnana, but what an enormous difference between the two." Jnan
adeva, who was present, then said, "There is no difference between myself and this buffalo because Brahman is present within both of us."  Another brahmana said, "how can you and this animal be equal?  Would you feel hurt, if this buffalo were beaten
?"  When Jnanadeva said "Yes", the brahmana began to strike the buffalo with a cane stick.   Simultaneously, cane marks appeared on the body of Jnanadeva, drops of blood even appeared at some spots.

 The brahmana stopped beating the buffalo and the amazed crowd stood in awed silence.  Some of the brahmana's then remarked sarcastically that this was a simple act of magic and had nothing to do with yogic power.  Hearing this, Jnanadeva addressed t
he buffalo thus, "Jnana, you and all of us present here are equal. Therefore, would you recite some slokas from the Vedas for the benefit of the brahmanas present?"  By the potency of Jnanadeva's yogic power, the buffalo began to recite from the Veda
s to the astonishment of everyone present.

 Later Viththalapantha returned to Krsnajiva's house. The brahmana's of Paitana, having come to know about Jnanadeva's divine power, promptly gave a clean chit to Viththala and welcomed him back into the society.  In his joy, Viththala decided to per
form the upanayana ceremony for his three sons simultaneously.  However, he gave up this idea when Jnanadeva said that the sons of a sannyasi should not wear the sacred thread.

 In due course of time Viththalapantha and his family returned to his native place at Alandi where he met his gurudeva, Ramananda Swami.  Under the direction of Ramananda Swami, who was on his way to Kasidhama via Alandi, Viththalapantha left Alandi
with his wife and settled down at Badrikasrama.  After sometime, Nivrtti also set out on a pilgrimage along with his two brothers and his sister Mukta.  They first went to a place called Nevasa and stayed there for some time.  At Nevasa, Jnanadeva wr
ote an outstanding tika of Bhagavad-gita under the title of Jnanesvaratika which was received with great appreciation in South India.  From Nevasa they all went to a place called Puntamva on the bank of the Godavari.  This village was famous because
of the great yogi named Cangadeva residing there.

 It is said (Visvakos) that people used to bring corpses of their dead relatives and place them near Cangadeva's prayer ground.  After coming out ofhis samadhi-asana, Cangadeva would restore the lives of the dead persons.  One day, while Cangadeva wa
s in his samadhi-asana, Muktabai, who had received the sanjivani mantra diksa from her elder brother Jnanadeva, revived some corpses which had been left for Cangadeva.  On coming out of his samadhi, Cangadeva found it strange that no dead bodies were
 waiting for him.  His disciple later told him that Muktabai, empowered by the sanjivani diksa of Jnanadeva, had performed the task of restoration.

 Meanwhile, Nivrtti and the others had returned to Alandi.  Cangadeva sent a letter with a messenger to Jnanadeva who replied by writing 65 abhangas (Maharastrian version of padas) by way of upadesa. Failing to understand the meaning of some padas, C
angadeva went to Alandi himself to meet Jnanadeva. There he was well looked after as he spent his days receiving instructions from Jnanadeva.

 The following is a list of books which Jnanadeva wrote:

1. Amrtanubhava (precis of The Veda and The Upanisada)
2. Pavana-vijaya
3. Yogavasista-tika
4. Pacikarana
5. Haripatha

He also wrote an astaka entitled Sri Viththalavarnana and several abhangas (padas).

 Because the general readers found it rather difficult to understand the purport of his Jnanesvari-tika, Jnanadeva used to give daily discourses in which he gave lucid and simple explanations.  Consequently many people began to understand the sacred
advice depicted in The Gita and gave up all bad association and became Bhagavadbhakta's.  In this context two incidents are narrated as follows:

 Trayamvaka was a brahmana resident of Alandi.  His wife, Parvatibai, was a woman of good character who served her husband with total devotion.  Unfortunately, Trayamvaka had an illicit relation with a sudra woman, which caused Parvati great mental a
gony.  Having heard of Jnanadeva's power to reform people of evil character, Parvati went to meet him.  During the course of religious discussions, Parvati found an opportune moment to disclose her problem and requested his help.  Jnanadeva sent for
Trayamvaka and the woman and instructed them to attend his session on Jnanesvari everyday.  Trayamvaka did not attend the session as requested by Jnanadeva but the woman did.  After a few days of hearing from Jnanadeva, she persuaded Trayamvaka to jo
in her.  One day, in the course of his lecture, Jnanadeva explained how the living entity who is a servant of ignorance resorts to evil ways and means under the spell of ajnana-dasa.  Jnanadeva's explanation created a deep impression in the hearts of
 both Trayamvaka and the sudra woman and they felt repentant.  Trayamvaka gave up his association with the sudra woman and started attending the religious sessions of Jnanadeva daily along with his wife.  The news of Trayamvaka's reformation convince
d everyone of Jnanadeva's power and more and more people began attending his lectures.  To cope with the increasing crowd, Jnanadeva shifted to a village named Jamvalabata about two miles away.

 Not far away from Jamvalabata, there is a place called Carauli where a much respected sannyasi named Vimlananda Swami lived.  Vimalananda, however, was envious of the increasing fame of Jnanadeva and thus began to spread false rumors about him.  But
 the people held Jnanadeva in high esteem and paid no heed to his lies.  One day someone openly told Vimalananda that Jnanadeva was not only a religious reformer but also an outstanding scholar and that it would do Vimalananda good to listen to his d
iscourses on sastra.  Thus Vimalananda went to listen to Jnanadeva lecture on the Bhagavad-gita. Swamiji was so charmed by Jnanadeva's presentation that his heart melted and his ill feelings disappeared.  After the session, Vimalananda met Jnanadeva
and conversed with him then returned home.

 After some time Jnanadeva left on a pilgrimage with his two brothers and sister, Mukta.  All of them felt that a renowned devotee musician should accompany the party and Jnanadeva suggested the name of Namadeva, a very good padakarta and an expert m
usician, who lived at Pandarapura and spent his time singing bhajan and kirtana in the temple of Viththaladeva (Lord Krsna).  At first Namadeva declined the offer of Jnanadeva but eventually agreed after receiving a divine command from Lord Viththala
deva.  After three days Jnanadeva'a party left Pandarapura and after passing through many holy places arrived at Kasidhama via Prayaga.

 At Kasi they were cordially hosted by Ramanandasvami and Sadhi Kavira.  They spent their time in Kasi in great happiness, performing bhajan and kirtana and discoursing with sannyasi's and scholars.  People of Kasi were very fond of Jnanadeva and his
 group.  During that time they took a short trip to Gayadhama and back.  From Kasi they went to Dvaraka, Ayodhya, Gokula, Vrndavana, Junagada, and many holy places in Trailanga pradesa and then returned to Pandarapura.
  Jnanadeva stayed on at Pandarapura for some time and passed his days performing bhajan-kirtana.  Through his divine influence many people became devotees.  Finally, Jnanadeva and his party returned to Alandi.

 In the course of his long pilgrimage Jnanadeva attracted many people not only by his bhajan-kirtana but also by his selfless service attitude.  Jnanadeva was particular about learning the languages of the places where he stayed for any length of tim
e.  In this way he became so proficient in Tailangi, Kannadi, and Hindi that he composed several abhangas (padas) in these three languages describing his pilgrimage.

 At Alandi Jnanadeva spent his morning commenting on religious subjects and giving advice. In the evening he performed bhajan and kirtana.  His excellent, yet simple, explanation of sastra attracted people from far and wide. Gradually, Alandi became
a place of pilgrimage.

 After passing many years in this way, Jnanadeva expressed his desire to enter into eternal samadhi and began making the necessary arrangements.  When the news of Jnanadeva's intention spread, sadhus from various states began assembling at Alandi.  D
uring this time Jnanadeva wrote a book entitled Alandimahatmya.

 In the evening of the ekadasi in the month of Kartika (Oct-Nov), Jnanadeva began a kirtana recital which continued through to trayodasi day, then Jnanadeva announced that he was ready to walk into his samadhi.  A place under a tree was selected and
a cave with two compartments was prepared.  Jnanadeva entered into the first compartment and after some conversation took leave of his relatives, sadhus and devotees.  He then entered into the other compartment where a kusasana and a mrigasana had be
en spread.  Jnanadeva took his position on the asana and settled himself in the padmasana.  Some holy books, such as Jnanesvari and Yogavasista, were placed before his asana and four earthen lamps were set alight.  Through his yogic power Jnanadeva s
lowly stopped the function of all his senses and became absorbed in a profound meditative trance.  The people present in the other compartment of the cave sealed the entrance and came up as the crowd chanted "Sri Jnanadeva-jayati!"

 Every year over 50,000 devotees attend a mela held in Alandi near Jnanadeva's samadhi.  Jnanadeva is worshiped by the people of Maharastra.  In South India, Jnanadeva occupies the topmost position amongst saints such as Tukarama.  (Visvakos Vol. VII
 p.248-253)

123. JNANAVALLABHA DASA:

 He was a Vaisnava padakarta.
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