No conflict between Vedanta and other Shastras.

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Foreword

by

Shrisha Chandra Vasu

The Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana are contained in four Adhyayas or books. Among the six schools of philosophy, the Vedanta is the most popular and the best studied. The Sutras of Badarayana are about 560 in number, and so concise and abstruse, that without a commentary they are hardly to be understood. It is difficult to find the connection between the successive Sutras, merely from the Sutras themselves. Being a work of exegetics one would expect them to give reference to the passages which are being explained; but there is hardly a single Sutra which gives unmistakable reference to any passage of the Upanishad. The result is that the various commentators have tried their ingenuity in finding out the passage or in imagining the text which is the subject of discussion in any particular Sutra. That they have not been consistent even on this broad point, will be clear to anyone who will study the various commentaries, the translations of which are before the public. In my opinion, the sage Badarayana intentionally constructed the Sutras in such a way that they may be of universal application, and may not be confined to the exposition of any particular religion or text. They contain universal principles of religion and philosophy, true for all times and ages, and not confined to the sacred literature of the Hindus alone. An interpretation of the Sutras in this light is a desideratum.

Baladeva, the author of the Govinda Bhashya, was a follower of Shri Chaitanya, the last of the Avataras. He wrote this commentary under the command of Lord Krishna at Vrindavana and called it Govinda Bhashya, because the Lord, as Shri Govinda, told him in a dream to compose it. It is a theistic Bhashya and in his Tika on it, said to be written by himself, Baladeva thus gives the Guru-parampara (or the apostolic succession) of the great teachers from the Lord Krishna down to Chaitanya.

The succession of the Gurus is as follows:

Shri Krishna, Brahma, Narada, Badarayana, Shri Madhva, Shri Padmanabha, Nrihari, Madhava, Akshobhya, Jayatirtha, Shri Jnanasindhu, Dayanidhi, Vidyanidhi, Rajendra, Jayadharma, Purushottama, Brahmanya, Vyasatirtha, Lakshmipati, Madhavendra. He had three disciples Shri Ishvara, Advaita, Nityananda, these are all teachers of the world (Jagat-gurus), we pay our reverence to these all; and lastly, to the Lord Shri Chaitanya Deva, who was the disciple of Shri Ishvara, and who saved the world by the gift of the love of Shri Krishna.

As regards the history of this commentary the same glossator writes thus: ….

Baladeva, the wise, composed this commentary under the command of Shri Govinda and hence it is called the Govinda Bhashya. Having studied all the Vedantas from his Guru and all the Upanishads so loved by the Lord of Lakshmi, one should study it after having read the Sankhya texts and the Shastras allied to them. Having bathed and performed the morning duties, the teacher and the pupil should study this Bhashya, reciting Sauti at the beginning and at the end. As through laziness men are not inclined to study voluminous books, therefore, I have composed this concise gloss on the Govinda Bhashya called Sukshma Tika. That Lord Govinda under whose command the Vidyabhushana (Baladeva) composed this commentary, may He help me in this my undertaking also. May the lovers of Vedanta and the worshippers of the lotus-feet of Shri Krishna have their compassion on me.

In modern times, no book is considered authoritative unless it belongs to some particular Sampradaya or School or Church. Among the Vaishnavas, four such schools are recognised as authoritative, namely, those of Ramanuja, Madhva, Vishnu-Svami and Nimbarka, as will appear from the following extract from the same gloss: …

All Mantras not belonging to any Sampradaya or school are considered as fruitless. Hence in this Kali Ago there will arise four founders of schools, namely, Shri, Brahma, Rudra, and Sanaka, the four great Vaishnavas, purifiers of the world. All these four will incarnate in Kali under the influence of the Supreme Lord of Utkala. Shri inspired Ramanuja, the four-faced Brahma inspired Madhvacharya, Rudra inspired Vishnu-Svami, and the four Kumaras taught through Nimbarka.

Baladeva based his commentary mainly on the teachings of these four schools of Vaishnava authors. Shri Chaitanya never wrote any commentary on the Vedanta Sutras, nor did his immediate disciples. According to them, the Bhagavata Purana is the best commentary on the Vedanta Sutras. Baladeva, who had written many works on Vaishnavism, and was perhaps the most learned among the followers of Shri Chaitanya, has written this theistic commentary and his explanations are in many places really an improvement upon those of his predecessors.

The text of the Baladeva Bhashya, with the gloss called the Sukshma Tika, was first published by Pandit Shyama Lai Goswami, a descendant of Lord Nityananda. The edition being, however, in Bengali character, is not available to the whole of India and it is intended to bring out a revised text in the Sacred Books of the Hindus series in Devanagari character.

This translation of the Govinda Bhashya is more in the nature of a paraphrase than a literal translation. I have not hesitated in expanding the author’s arguments, and supplementing his short references by fuller quotations from the sacred texts.

Benares: S.C.V.

24th April, 1912.

CONTENTS BRAHMA SUTRAS

FIRST ADHYAYA:

THE BOOK OF RECONCILIATION

First Pada

Introductory

All Vedic texts uniformly refer to Brahman

There is no conflict between Vedanta and other shastras

The qualifications of the Adhikara

Adhikarana defined

Adhikarana I

What the study of Vedanta presupposes

Adhikarana II

Brahman defined

A maxim of interpretation

The difference between Jiva and Brahman

Adhikarana III

Knowledge of God is obtained through Scriptures and not by reasoning and inference

Vedanta teaches no action, but informs man about God

Adhikarana IV

God is the subject of all Scriptures

All Scriptures should be so interpreted as primarily teaching the worship of God

Adhikarana V

God is knowable and not inexpressible by words

The Creator is not the Saguna Brahman

The word Bhagavan defined

God is Nirguna, because His worship leads to salvation

There is no higher entity than God

Vedas uniformly define Nirguna Brahman

Adhikarana VI

God is all bliss, as well as blissful

God is true wisdom and infinity

Jiva is not Satyam, Jnanam, etc., of the Tait. Up.

The devotees of God bring God under their control, as a wife controls her husband

God and Jivas are different

«Becoming Brahman, he attains Brahman» explained

Pradhana is not the Jnanamaya of the Tait. Up.

Adhikarana VII

God is the solar energy, controlling the solar system (Chh. I. 6)

God is the psychic energy, controlling the human system

The Inner-ruler of the solar Logos is God and no Jiva

God is the connecting link of ether, joining all solar systems

God is the Breath of life (Chh. I. 11-5)

God is Supreme Light

God is the power conquering all, and spoken of as Indra

«I am God», said by Indra and Vamadeva, explained

«I» means both God and the human self

God different from Jiva and Prana

Second Pada

Adhikarana I

God is all-intelligence

He is the Manomaya of Chh. III.14 and Mundaka II.2 and Tait I.6

Jiva is not the Manomaya of Chh. (III.14) because there is a difference between God and man

God is in the heart Of man, and should be so meditated upon

Though God is in man, He does not partake in the pleasure and the pain of man

Adhikarana II

God is enjoyer or eater of the universe

Adhikarana III

God is the friend of man, and dwells with him in the heart

Adhikarana IV

God is the spirit of love, that shines out through the eyes of man

The Chandogya passage IV. 15 explained

Adhikarana V

God is the Ruler within the soul

The Ruler-within is neither matter, nor spirit, but God

Adhikarana VI

God is the ‘Indestructible’ of the Mundaka Up.

The ‘Imperishable’ is different from matter and spirit

The Lord has a specific form

Adhikarana VII

The Vaishvanara of Chh. Up. V. 11, etc., is Brahman

The method of re-incarnation

The Vaishvanara should be meditated upon in man

It is not the god of fire

The word Agni means God

This Fire is of the measure of a span, in the heart of man, and should be so meditated upon

Third Pada

Adhikarana I

God is the Great Abode within which the heaven and the earth, etc., are floating

He is the goal of the Free

This Abode is neither matter nor spirit, but God

Difference between God and Jiva again declared

Adhikarana II

The Bhuman of Chh. Up. (VII. 23) is God. God is not only the

Great Hollow in which everything abides, but he is the Great

Plenum or fullness called Bhuman

God is infinite joy in His aspect of Bhuman of fullness

Adhikarana III

God is the Akshara or the ‘Imperishable’ described in the Bit ir. Up. (III. 8. 8)

Neither matter nor spirit is this ‘Imperishable’

Adhikarana IV

God appears as a person in the highest heaven and is so referred to in Prashna Up. (V. 5)

This appearance of God in the highest heaven is seen by the Muktas

Adhikarana V

The Ether within the heart called Dahara is God and not Jiva

All Jivas merge in this Ether in deep sleep though unconscious of it

This Ether is the support of the two worlds

This Ether called Dahara is not the Jiva

In Mukti, the Jiva enters into this Ether

Adhikarana VI

God is the Person of the size of a thumb seen in the heart

He is so described for the purposes of meditation in the heart

Soul is not this thumb-sized person

Adhikarana VII

Devas entitled to meditate upon God

Devas are embodied beings though they can appear simultaneously at many sacrifices

The Shabda is eternal

The Veda is eternal

A creation after the great Pralaya is modeled on the type of the past

What are the peculiar objects of meditation for Devas

Adhikarana VIII

The Madras are not entitled to Vedic meditation

Janashruti of the Chh. Up. was a Kshatriya and not a Shudra

Shudras like Vidura or Dharmavyadha are exceptions

Shudras get Moksha through Puranas, and a Mukta Shudra is as holy as any other Jiva

Adhikarana IX

God is the Great Terror and is referred as a thunderbolt

The Chakra of Vishnu symbolic of Vishnu’s terror aspect

Adhikarana X

The Akasha of the Chh. Up., VIII. 14 is God

It is not the Jiva

The Mukta-Jiva is not God

Fourth Pada

Adhikarana I

The ‘Undeveloped’ of Katha Up. (I. 3. 11) is subtle body and not matter -

The Pradhana or Matter produces all effects through God .

The ‘ Undeveloped ‘ is not Pradhana

The word Mahat of the Katha (I. 3, 10) is not the Mahat of the Sankhya philosophy

Adhikarana II

The Aja of the Shvet. Up. (IV. 5) is not the Pradhana

She has beginning in Light and is not therefore Prakriti

She is the Divine power or the Shakti of the Lord

She is both created and uncreated She is the Tamas of the Rig Veda

She is created and uncreated in the some sense as the sun rises and rises not

Adhikarana III

The Pancha Pancha-Janah of Br. Up. (IV., 4. 17) are not the twenty-five principles of the Sankhyas

They refer to Prana and the rest

Adhikarana IV

God is the sole cause

The words Asat and Avyakrita of the Tait. Up. (II. 7 and Br. Up., 1. 4. 5.) denote God

Adhikarana V

The Purusha of the Kaus. Up. is Brahman

The word «Karma» means world and not work in that passage of the Kaus. Up. (IV. 19)

That passage does not refer cither to the Jiva or to the chief

Prana

Jiva different from God

Adhikarana VI

The word Atman of the Br: Up. (IV. 5) is Brahman and not Jiva

The Jiva-Atman in Mukti acquires all the conditions of the Supreme-Self, and becomes the beloved of all

Everything is dear by its relation to God

The theory of Bhakti according to Audulomi

The Bp. Up. passage explained according to Kashakritsna

Adhikarana VII

God is both the operative and the material cause of the universe

The creation is His will

God becomes the World by Parinama or modification of Himself

Adhikarana VIII

All names are names of God

SECOND ADHYAYA:

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