Preface
All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.
First of all let me offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master Om Visnupada Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, then my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is associated with Sri Advaita Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Gadadhara Prabhu, Srivasa Prabhu, as well as whose eternal assistants are the six gosvamis, headed by Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, Ragaunatha dasa Gosvami, as well as whose private secretary is Sri Svarupa Damodara dasa and His eternal attendant Govinda.
Then let us talk about the Brahma-sutra or Vedanta-sutra. There are many comments on the Vedanta-sutra. In India especially the system is that anyone who is the head of a religious institution must be well conversed with the Vedantasutras, and is expected to write comments on the Vedanta-sutra, without which one is not accepted as an acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic knowledge. He personally practices them as well as teaches to his disciples the system of Vedic knowledge.
There are many acaryas, especially of the Vaisnava-sampradaya, like the four sampradayas: Ramanuja-sampradaya, Madhvacarya-sampradaya, Visnusvamisampradaya, and Nimbarka-sampradaya. Our sampradaya is called Gaudiya-sampradaya, or the Vaisnavas who are in the disciplic succession of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The gaudiya-sampradaya actually belongs to the Madhva-sampradaya and the Madhva-sampradaya belongs to the Brahma- sampradaya. Besides these four vaisnava-acarya-sampradayas, there are also non-vaisnavasampradayas, especially the impersonalist school headed by Sankaracarya. Sankaracarya has written a commentary on the Vedanta- sutras, known as Cariraka-bhaasya. Generally this Cariraka-bhasya made by Sankaracarya is very popular on account of the present Indians being influenced by materialistic activities. But still the other different bhasyas, or commentaries, made by the Vaisnava acaryas are also available in the Gaudiya- sampradaya, specifically headed by Rupa Gosvami.
In the beginning there was no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra because according to Srimad- Bhagavatam it is said that the real commentary on the Vedanta-sutra is Srimad-Bhagavatam itself, presented by the author, Sri Vyasadeva Himself. In our english commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavatam First Canto, First Chapter, we have explained this fact that Srimad- Bhagavatam is the right type of commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. As such the Gaudiya-vaisnavas ampradaya did not take much care to present their commentary on the Vedantasutra.
About 200 years ago there was a conclusion in Golpa district in Jaipur, wherein the acaryas or followers of other sampradayas challenged the Gaudiya- vaisnava sampradaya that it has no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. At that time Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura was living in Vrndavana, but he was too old, and when the Gaudiya Vaisnavas approached him to present a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, he asked his disciple, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana to write a commentary on the Vedanta- sutra. As Vaisnavas are generally very humble and meek, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana thought himself unfit to write an authorized commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, so he approached Lord Govinda in the temple of Jaipur. He placed himself down before Lord Govinda to take his permission and authority to begin writing a commentary on the Vedanta- sutra, and he was assured by Govinda that he could do so. With this inspiration he wrote the Vedanta-sutra commentary known as Govinda-bhasya. This Govinda-bhasya is very authorized and accepted by all the vaisnava-sampradayas, This commentary, which may be known as Bhaktivedanta-bhasya, follows the footprints of Govinda-bhasya.
The necessity of presenting the Bhaktivedanta-bhasya commentary on Vedantasutra should also be explained herein. My spiritual master, Om Visnupada Paramhamsa Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, ordered me to present the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy in English as far as possible, and in this attempt for the english-knowing persons, since 1965 I have been in the western countries with my three books of the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then I presented my commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavad-gita known as The Bhagavadgita As It Is, and similarly I have presented The Teachings of Lord Caitanya. Also, requested by many of my western disciples, especially my worthy disciples Sriman Hansadutta Das Adhikari and Janardana Das Adhikari, who are in charge of the Montreal Center, and I am trying to present an English commentary on the Vedanta-sutra as follows.
At the present moment all over the world there are major portions of godless persons. Generally people are very attached to the void philosphy presented by Lord Buddha or the impersonal philosophy presented by Sankaracarya . In other words, to be more plain and simple, people are becoming very atheistic. To say that there is no God, as the atheists declare, is rather bold and simple, but to say that there is a supreme cause that is void, or there is God but He has no form, is more dangerous than the simple declaration that there is no God.
Our society, known as the international Society for Krishna Consciousness, has now started the movement for Krsna Consciousness , and it is very gratifiying that the younger generation of the western part of the world, in America, Canada, and Europe, are taking interest in this great movement. We already have branches in almost every important city of the United States and Canada, and we have started centers also in London and Hamburg. We hope that our Krsna Consciousness movement will gradually increase, as predicted by Lord Caitanya, who said that His missionary activities, the same as the Krsna Consciousness movement, will be preached all over the world, in every village in every country. Taking into consideration the present activities of this movement, it is hoped that the prediction of Lord Caitanya will soon be fulfilled and the people of the world will be very happy, having Krsna Consciousness.
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