Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,
Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!
Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!
Jai Visnupada Swami Gaurangapada!
All glories to our Guru Parampara!
Please accept my respectful obeisances
I have been going through the Govinda Bhashya on the Vedanta Sutra. When one reads it, it is immediately obvious that only the Lord could have dictated such a commentary. It was completed in just 18 days. To tell the truth, it takes longer than that to just go through it once!! While reading it, I felt like an idiot, in the sense, it was a very humbling experience. One wonders at two things. One is that when the subject matter, the context in the Sruti-Smrti is explained, before raising the subject matter (Vishaya), then looking at the opponents' views (purvapaksha), the siddhanta (the perfect conclusion), and when we see which sutras express Vyasa's philosophy and which express the opponents' philosophy and what is the natural meaning, then it becomes obvious when the full context is known what the sutra means and indicates the correct explanation. So many have said Vedanta is this, Vedanta is that...but on seeing the Govinda Bhashya one sees immediately that Vedanta is identical with Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. The scriptural references comes from every nook and cranny of the colossal mountain of Vedic literature -- many scriptures which I never knew existed. It requires infinite knowledge -- only the Lord can explain the Vedanta Sutra so satisfactorily. Indeed for anyone who has read the Vedanta Sutra, but not the Govinda Bhashya, it is fully capable of causing heart stopping astonishment. Indeed when the scholars of Jaipur saw it, their eyes almost popped out of their head in shock!!
Of course, that said, Vedanta is the end of all knowledge, and hence it is well beyond what foolish souls like me can imagine or understand. So I don't know anything in the Vedanta. My knowledge is nothing. But I cannot help but feel that when the acaryas' mercy is there, even a fool can easily understand the import of a massive, massive subject like the Vedanta Sutra. I am simply stunned at what the spiritual masters and the devotees can do -- there is nothing that is impossible for them. Their mercy is simply beyond words -- I can only offer obeisances and ask them to show a drop of mercy on worthless wretches like myself.
That also means that without the acaryas' mercy, nothing is possible as well. Without it, the most erudite scholar becomes reduced to the level of a fairy teller, who narrates childish fantasies in the name of the highest science. The observations on the modern day theories of science are sufficient proof for this. The latest thoeries say that an object exists as we know it only we observe it, and without observing, it is in limbo between a million possible states of existence and that our observation of an object creates a universe (the modern day parallel universes theory) and many others. It is just old wine in new bottle ("If I don't see it, I don't believe it exists"), or as children close their eyes thinking that the other person will not be able to see them if they are out of the children's vision. Bhaktisiddhanta Siddhanta Sarasvati said in a lecture on the ontology and morphology of the Vedanta that so many fanciful commentators have changed the very substatrum of the Vedanta itself., like the Mayavadis on one hand and the materialists on the other. I have heard that Bhagavad Gita is now used to earn higher material profits in business and for relieving stress to enjoy our sense gratification better. I heard that Vedanta explanations are given telling us to enjoy bungee jumping!!!! Believe me, I have seen and heard it myself while I was at school. That's probably what Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada meant. Behold how marvelously one can goof up if one doesn't study these things under a spiritual master an without the mercy of the Lord and his devotees! This is another matter that is really beyond words for the wrong reasons.
This is why Srila Prabhupada dedicated his Bhagavad Gita translation "To Baladeva Vidyabhushana, who so nicely presented the Govinda Bhashya commentary on the Vedanta". The same subject matter in the Bhagavad Gita is discussed in the Vedanta Sutra very elaborately. We may say confidently that Lord Krishna spoke the Vedanta to Arjuna. Srila Prabhupada wrote that Arjuna was not a "Vedantist", he attained the qualification to hear the Bhagavad Gita because he was a devotee. In the same vein, Vedanta is also for the devotee. So identical are the explanations. Only Lord Krishna knows the Vedas as they are and he is the author of the Vedanta. This itself indicates that Bhagavad Gita explains the Vedanta. Then comes the Srimad Bhagavatam. Now only I realise why Srimad Bhagavatam is the natural commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. The subject matter of the Vedanta Sutra is the subject explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam. What can I say, Radharani is explicitly pointed to in the Sutras in the descriptions of the Vedanta Sutra. So many sutras in pada 1 are explained in the context of some difficult portions in the Upanishads which actually directly descibe Lord Gauranga, such as the one describing Golden person in the sphere of the sun. The atmarama sloka in the Srimad Bhagavatam actually indicates Lord Gauranga himself as Lord Krishna is captivated by his own qualities and as Lord Caitanya he enjoys the highest mellows of bliss, in love for himself. This way the Lord himself is atmarama, finding bliss in himself. By knowing the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, the Vedanta is known. Now only I realise the import of what Bhaktivinode Thakura mentioned in the Navadvipa Dhama Mahatmya. Indeed the introduction to the Vedanta Sutra itself tells of the intimate relationship between the Vedanta Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, which is given by Srila Prabhupada.
However. this commentary of the Vedanta sutra, while known to the Vaisnava world, is only given the status of a side word wherever it is mentioned on the net on topics reated to Vedanta, if at all. Only our sampradaya is fully aware of it/ So far practically the whole world does not know its true glories. Indeed, where I come from, Gaudiya Vaisnava is almost unknown. Even most of the learned community is unaware of even the existence of this commentary and this problem is seen very much over here -- nearly everybody thinks that Sankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya are the only ones who have commented on the Vedanta for all time. I could be very well wrong and since this is a public forum, I have no interest or desire to make any controversial statements -- I am only telling you what I see here -- and I am gladly willing to accept and correct myself if you instruct me I am wrong. But since it hasn't been published like so many Vaisnava books, even among the intelligentsia few are aware of this commentary. I personally have not anyone who knows this yet. Factually the only idea of Gaudiya Vaisnava dharma in these parts is the remotest idea of something called ISKCON or the Gaudiya Matha. Apart from the Gaudiya Math, very very few people even know that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had come to Chennai (then Madras). I personally was unaware that Srila Prabhupada had even come here unti I read one of his morning walks on the Marina beach! Many people still think our acaryas have not commented on the Vedanta. It is very depressing to read this kind of treatment given to it by the outside community -- the world outside our sampradaya that is. I am praying to the Lord, that the glories of the Govinda Bhashya must be known all over the world with the glories of the mantrarajas!
Jaya Baladeva Vidyabhushana! All glories to Lords Nityananda Gauranga! All glories to Radha Krishna! All glories to the Govinda Bhashya!
Aspiring to be your servant,
Srinath
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Dear Ganesamurthy, Welcome to NITAAI.com.