Brahma Samhita

The Brahma Saṁhitā is a Sanskrit Pañcarātra text, composed of verses of prayer spoken by Brahma glorifying the supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa or Govinda at the beginning of creation. It is revered within Gauḍiya Vaiṣṇavism, whose founder, Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486–1534), re-discovered a part of the work, the 62 verses of Chapter 5, at the Adikeshav Temple in Thiruvattar, Tamil Nadu, South India in the 16th Century which had previously been lost for a few centuries. Mitsunori Matsubara in his Pañcarātra Saṁhitās and Early Vaisṇava Theology dates the text at ca 1300 AD. The text contains a highly esoteric description, with the Kāma-Gāyatṛi, of Kṛṣṇa in His abode Goloka.

In 1970, George Harrison produced a modern recording of these prayers performed by devotees of the Rādhe Kṛṣṇa Temple in London. Titled "Govinda", the song took its title from the main chorus line of the prayer "govindam ādi-puruṣam tam ahaṁ bhajāmi", meaning "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord". This prayer was sung by Yamunā Devi, a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.