Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā

The origins of Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā are lost to antiquity. According to Vedic tradition, these “Hymns of Brahmā” were recited millennia ago by the first being in the universe. The text entered the written canon of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism in the sixteenth century, when it was discovered in the manuscript library of an ancient temple in what is now Kerala state, in South India.

The essence of Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā is the beautiful prayers Lord Brahmā offers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, after his enlightenment. There is nothing vague about Brahmā’s description of the Supreme Being and His abode – no dim, nihilistic nothingness, no blinding bright lights, no wispy, dreamy visions of harps and clouds. Rather, Brahmā describes a vibrant, luminous transcendental and sublimely variegated spiritual landscape populated by innumerable blissful, eternally liberated souls reveling in spiritual cognition, sensation, and emotion – all in relationship with the all-blissful, all-attractive Supreme Person.