Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition
8. Śrī Vasiṣṭha Saṃhitā
The title and subject of this saṃhitā are reported in Upāsanā-traya-siddhānta. It describes divine Ayodhya. Chapter thirty-six says that Vaikuntha stands above all; beyond Vaikuntha lies Goloka; at Goloka’s centre is Saketa. Mithila lies east of Saketa, Chitrakuta south, Vrindavana west, and Maha-Vaikuntha north, where Sriman Narayana dwells with all his attendants. This Narayana is the creator and source of the twenty-four avatāras and principal teacher of Rama’s story.
Saketa lies within seven enclosures. Detailed description of those enclosures is the saṃhitā’s principal subject and will be presented later under the doctrine of the divine abode.
Within Saketa are twelve forests: Shringara, Vihara, Tamala, Rasala, Champaka, Chandana, Parijata, Ashoka, Vichitra, Kadamba, Kama, and Nagakesara. Around the Pramoda forest stand four mountains—Shringara, Mani, Lila, and Mukta—and a divine power dwells upon each.
The transcendent Brahman Rama is the primal cause of all; Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesha, and the other gods are invested portions of him. Rama eternally sports with Sita in the divine Pramoda forest.1
Footnotes
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The cited passage places Rama’s abode Saketa above Vaikuntha, Goloka, Narayana, and Krishna, and describes Dasharathi Rama as the self-luminous supreme reality whose infinite avatāras are portions, rays, manifestations, and invested forms. The Pramoda forest is said to be a conscious golden ground adorned with jewels, beyond speech and mind, Rama’s most beloved abode and the seat of eternal līlā with Sita. ↩