Bhagavat Sandarbha is the second Sandarbha. After showing in Tattva Sandarbha that the principal proof among all scriptures is Bhāgavatam, Jīva Gosvāmī also indicated that the subject presented in Bhāgavatam is Bhagavān. This Sandarbha commences to describe Bhagavān, distinguishing him from Brahman and Paramātmā. Since Brahman is merely an incomplete realization of Bhagavān, a separate Sandarbha is not need to describe it. Paramātmā, however, having special functions related to creation of the material world and manifestation of the jīva, is described in the next Sandarbha.

The Sandarbhas are one of Jīva Gosvāmī's major works. Sandarbha literally means "stringing together." Baladeva explains, "The wise say a Sandarbha is that which possesses various matters of importance which should be known. Bhāgavatam verses are gathered together (sandṛbhyate)."In this case, it is a literary composition consisting of a series of prose sections mixed with verse mainly from Bhāgavatam. It is in six parts which explain Gauḍiya epistemology, theology and philosophy. Tattva Sandarbha deals with the epistemology, while Bhagavat, Paramātmā and Kṛṣṇa Sandarbhas deal with object of worship (sambandha). Bhakti Sandarbha deals with the process or abhidheya, bhakti, and Prīti Sandarbha deals with the goal or prayojana, prema.Tattva Sandarbha first explains the various pramāṇas or methods of proof and concludes that śabda or scripture is the strongest. Using scriptural proofs, finally Bhāgavatam is concluded to be the best among all scriptures. The second part of Tattva Sandarbha explains prameya--what is proved by Bhāgavatam: Kṛṣṇa as the object of worship, bhakti as the method and prema as the goal. These topics are expanded in the other Sandarbhas.

In the sixteenth century, the saint and scholar Sri Caitanya set in motion a wave of devotion to Krishna that began in eastern India and has now found its way around the world. Caitanya taught that the highest aim of life is to develop selfless love for God Krishna, the blue-hued cowherd boy who spoke the Bhagavad Gita. Although only a handful of poetry is attributed to Caitanya, his devotional theology was expounded and systematized by his followers in a vast array of poetical, philosophical, and ritual literature. This book provides a thematic study of Caitanya Vaishnava philosophy, introducing key thinkers and ideas in the early tradition, using Sanskrit and Bengali sources that have seldom been studied in English. The book addresses major areas of the tradition, including epistemology, ontology, aesthetics, ethics, and history, and every chapter includes relevant readings from primary sources.

Bhakti Sandarbha is the fifth Sandarbha of Jīva Gosvāmī. The first Sandarbha deals with pramāna, the Bhāgavatam. The second, third and fourth Sandarbhas deal with sambandha: defining the Lord in his aspects as Paramātmā, Bhagavān and Kṛṣṇa. The present Sandarbha deals with the abhideya (method), the sādhana of bhakti. This is the means to realize Kṛṣṇa. The same topic is covered in the second chapter of the Eastern Section of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu of Rūpa Gosvāmī, but is expanded greatly. It discusses the spiritual nature of this process, the qualification of bhakti, the various actions of bhakti, vaidhi and rāgānuga types, mixed and pure forms of bhakti and various types of devotees.

This book explores a number of concepts of God in Vaiṣṇavism, which is commonly referred to as one of the great Hindu monotheistic traditions. By addressing the question of what attributes God possesses according to particular Vaiṣṇava textual sources and traditions, the book locates these concepts within a global philosophical framework. The book is divided into two parts. The first part, God in Vaiṣṇava Texts, deals with concepts of God found in some of the more prominent canonical Vaiṣṇava texts: the Bhagavad-Gītā, the Bhagavata-Purāṇa, the Jayākhya-Saṃhitā as representative of the Pāñcarātras, and the Mahābhārata. The second part, God in Vaiṣṇava Traditions, addresses concepts of God found in several Vaiṣṇava traditions and their respective key theologians. In addition to the Āḻvārs, the five traditional Vaiṣṇava schools—the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition, the Madhva tradition, the Nimbārka tradition, the Puṣṭimārga tradition, and the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition—and two contemporary ones—those of Ramakrishna (who has Vaiṣṇava leanings) and Swami Bhaktivedanta—are considered. The book combines normative, critical, and descriptive elements. Some chapters are philosophical in nature, and others are more descriptive. Each unpacks a specific Vaiṣṇava concept of God for future philosophical analysis and critique. Written by experts who break new ground in this presentation and representation of the diversity of Vaiṣṇava texts and traditions, the book provides approaches that reflect the amount of philosophical and historical deliberation on the specific issues and divine attributes so far considered in the field of Hindu Studies. This book will be of interest to researchers in disciplines including philosophy of religion and Indian philosophy, cross-cultural and comparative philosophy, analytic philosophy of religion, Hindu Studies, theology, and religious studies.

The historical shift from Vedic traditions to post-Vedic bhakti (devotional) traditions is accompanied by a shift from abstract, translocal notions of divinity to particularized, localized notions of divinity and a corresponding shift from aniconic to iconic traditions and from temporary sacrificial arenas to established temple sites. In Bhakti and Embodiment Barbara Holdrege argues that the various transformations that characterize this historical shift are a direct consequence of newly emerging discourses of the body in bhakti traditions in which constructions of divine embodiment proliferate, celebrating the notion that a deity, while remaining translocal, can appear in manifold corporeal forms in different times and different localities on different planes of existence. Holdrege suggests that an exploration of the connections between bhakti and embodiment is critical not only to illuminating the distinctive transformations that characterize the emergence of bhakti traditions but also to understanding the myriad forms that bhakti has historically assumed up to the present time. This study is concerned more specifically with the multileveled models of embodiment and systems of bodily practices through which divine bodies and devotional bodies are fashioned in Krsna bhakti traditions and focuses in particular on two case studies: the Bhagavata Purana, the consummate textual monument to Vaisnava bhakti, which expresses a distinctive form of passionate and ecstatic bhakti that is distinguished by its embodied nature; and the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, an important bhakti tradition inspired by the Bengali leader Caitanya in the sixteenth century, which articulates a robust discourse of embodiment pertaining to the divine bodies of Krsna and the devotional bodies of Krsna bhaktas that is grounded in the canonical authority of the Bhagavata Purana.