Pancharatra

Pāñcarātra are Vaishnava Sanskrit Agamic texts. Literally meaning five nights (pañca: five, rātra: nights), the term Pancharatra has been variously interpreted. The term has also been attributed to the Shatapatha Brahmana 12.6 wherein Narayana performed a sacrifice for five nights and became a transcendent and immanent being. The Pancharatra Agamas constitute the most important texts of the Srivaishnava Sampradaya of Ramanuja. The Pancharatra Agamas are composed of more than 200 texts; with various suggested time periods of composition; including the 3rd century BC, and a period between 600 AD to 850 AD.

Vishnu worshipers of today, represented in a wide spectrum of traditions, generally follow the system of Pancharatra worship. The concept of Naḍa and Naḍa-Brahman appear already in Sāttvata Samhita or Sāttvata Tantra and in Jayākhya Samhita, two texts considered most canonical of Pancharatra texts.

Ānanda Tīrtha the founder of Madhva line has written in his commentary on Mundaka Upanishad: "In Dvāpara-yuga, Vishnu is exclusively worshiped according to the principles of the Pancharatra Scripture, but in this age of Kali-yuga, the Supreme Lord Hari is worshiped only by the chanting of his Holy Name."

Jiva Gosvami had stated in his Paramātma Sandārbha, forming part of six principal Sandārbhas, or philosophical treateses of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, that, "Seeing that the imperfect scriptures in the modes of passion and ignorance bring only a host of troubles, and also seeing that the original Vedas are very difficult to follow properly, and thus being very dissatisfied with both of these, the all-knowing scripture authors affirm the superiority of the Pancharatras, which describe the pure absolute truth, Narayana, and the worship of the Lord, which is very easy to perform." In the same Sandārbha Jiva Gosvami states that god himself, Svayam Bhagavan, had spoken the Narada Pancharatra, which is accepted as a pramāṇa [critical evidence] by Gaudiya scholars.

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