Siddhanta-darpana (The Mirror of Philosophical Conclusions) (Sanskrit Text with Transliteration and English Translation)

Introduction

Just as the supremacy of Lord Krsna is an object of timeless controversy, so is the authority of the scripture that depicts Him: the Srimad-Bhagavatam. No other Vedic personality and no other Purana has been so much attacked by opposing groups-a fact which itself evinces the superiority of both, for the scriptures often describe the particular envy the demons feel towards Lord Krsna. Such envy would be baseless if He were a common being and the Srlmad-Bhagavatam a common book. Therefore sastra, history, logic, and Lord Krsna’s exalted devotees stand by Him to dismantle all bogus texts, false evidences, fallacies, and atheistic arguments. With this in mind, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, known as the Gaudiya Vedanta Acarya, compiled the Siddhanta-darpana, an original treatise that presents the Srimad-Bhagavatam as the sound incarnation of the Lord and defeats several objections against its authenticity.

By its very characteristics, Srimad-Bhagavatam far surpasses all other Puranas. There are five basic topics that must be included in a Purana according to the following definition:

sargas ca pratisargas ca vamso manvantarani ca

vamsanucaritam ceti puranam panca-laksanam

“Creation, secondary creation, the dynasties, the ages of the several Manus, and the activities of the various dynasties - these are the five characteristics of a Purana.”

Another definition states that a Purana, or more specifically, a Maha-purana, must have additional five topics:

sargo ‘syatha visargas ca vrtti-raksantarani ca

vamso vamsanucaritam samstha hetur apasrayary

“O brahmana, a Purana is said to contain ten characteristic topics: the primary creation, the subsequent creation, the universal maintenance, the protection of all beings, the ages of the various Manus, the dynasties of kings and their activities, annihilation, motivation, and the supreme shelter. Some state that the Maha-puranas have these ten topics, while lesser Puranas have only five.” (Srlmad-Bhagavatam, 12.7.9-10)

All the subject matters can be distinctly found in one or more books of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. As it contains these ten main characteristics, it is therefore correctly defined as being a Maha-purana:

sri-suka uvaca

atra sargo visargas ca sthanam posanam utayary

manvantareSanukatha nirodho muktir asrayary

“Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there are ten divisions of statements regarding the following: the creation of the universe, subcreation, planetary systems, protection by the Lord, the creative impetus, the change of Manus, the science of God, annihilation, liberation, and the supreme shelter.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2.10.2)

The Puranas are also classified as belonging to the mode of goodness (sattvika), passion (rajasika) or ignorance (tamasika). The Kurma Pura1).a (2.43.49) and the Matsya Purana (53.68-69) state:

sattvikesu puranesu mahatmyam adhikam harery

rajasesu ca mahatmyam adhikam brahmano viduh

tadvad agnes ca mahatmyam tamasesu sivasya ca

“In the Puranas in the mode of goodness, the focus is the glories of Lord Hari; in those in the mode of passion, the focus is the glories of Lord Brahma; similarly, in those in the mode of ignorance, the focus is the glories of Lord Siva and Agni.”

The Garuda Purana (3.1.52) confirms:

Visnoh puranam bhagavatam puranam sattvottamam garudam cahur aryah

“The Aryans declare that Visnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana and Garuda Purana are the best of the Puranas in the mode of goodness.”

Wherever this topic is dealt with, the Srimad-Bhagavatam is described as a sattvika Purana. This is quite obvious, as Lord Visnu, the subject of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, is also described as the controller of the mode of goodness. The superiority of sattva- gur:ta (goodness) over rajo-guna (passion) and tamo-guna (ignorance) is self-evident and it is superfluous to mention how it is praised by so many scriptures. Once this is understood, it is untenable to think that the Snmad-Bhagavatam counted among the Maha-puranas could be any other text than the one in goodness and praising Lord Visnu. No Purana named ‘Bhagavatam’ could possibly belong to the mode of goodness if it emphasizes the worship of any other deity than Visnu, for this would contradict His direct instruction:

ye ‘py anya-devatd-bhaktd yajante sraddhaydnvitah

te ‘pi mam eva kaunteya yajanty avidhi-purvakam (Bhagavad-gita 9.23)

“Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kunti, but they do so in a wrong way.”

Yet there is a very old controversy in which the Saktas claim that the Devi-Bhagavata Purana is the bona fide Bhagavatam among the eighteen Maha-puranas. This issue has led to innumerable arguments between the disputants. Perhaps the earliest known reference to’ this controversy is that of Sridhara Svami (l4^th century), who in the very beginning of his commentary on the Srlmad-Bhagavatam states that one should not doubt it as the authentic Bhagavatam, hinting that this controversy was quite widespread even in his time. Narasimha Vajapeyi (l5^th century) in his Nityacara-pradlpa quotes the list of eighteen Maha-puranas and declares that one should not think that the name bhagavata comes from bhagavati, another name of Devi, In addition, Vajapeyi mentions the view of Laksmidhara that Puranas such as the Kalika Purana, which are not in the list, are later productions. He further remarks that if one doubts the Srlmad-Bhagavatam, which is so famous, then one may well doubt the other Puranas too. In the 15^th century, Purusottama Ttrtha, a sannyasi in the line of Madhvacarya, wrote the Bhagavata-visaya-svarupa-sanka- nirasa-trayodasa, in which he presents thirteen arguments to prove the Vaisnava Bhagavatam as the legitimate Maha-purana. In the 16^th century, jiva Gosvami composed the Tattva-sandarbha, a pioneer work that presents the Srimad-Bhagavatam not only as a bona fide Maha-purana, but also the topmost scripture. Therein he refutes several objections against its authenticity. In the 17th century some peculiar papers were composed: defending the Vaisnava’s view, Ramasrama, son of the famous Bhattoji Dtksita, wrote the Durjana-mukha-capetika CA Slap on the Face of the Wicked); to refute it, Kasinatha Bhatta compiled the Durjana-mukha-maha-capetika CA Big Slap on the Face of the Wicked); and another response written by an anonymous author is called Durjana-mukha-padma-paduka CA Lotus like Shoe on the Face of the Wicked). The discussion goes on to the present day, and unfortunately for the Saktas, on the basis of the large amount of evidence available, the great majority of scholars agree that the Vaisnava Srimad-Bhagavatam is the legitimate Maha-purana. A few of these evidences are as follows.

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