वेदान्त पारिजात सौरभ (भगवद् निम्बार्काचार्य - द्वैताद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

PREFACE Nimbārka's commentary on the Brahma-Sūtras known as the Vedānta-Pārijāta-Saurabha, and that of his immediate disciple Śrīnivāsa styled the Vedānta-Kaustubha are the chief works of the school of philosophy associated with the name of Nimbārka. The latter is not, however, a mere commentary on the former, as is some- times wrongly supposed, but a full exposition of the views expressed in the Vedānta-Pārijāta-Saurabha which is very terse and concise and is not always clear Both the treatises are therefore essential for the proper understanding of the doctrine of Nimbārka Hitherto no translation of either of these works was available in the English language, and the task was undertaken by Dr. Roma Bose (Chaudhuri) at the suggestion of Prof F W Thomas, Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, under whose super- vision it was carried out during 1934--1936, as part of the thesis for the Degree of D.Phil. of that University. This authoritative English Edition of the Vedānta-Pārijāta- Saurabha has been prepared after carefully comparing the manuscripts Nos. E164, 2480, 2481 and 3273 of the India Office Library and the printed Sanskrit texts of the Kāśī, Brindāban and Chowkhāmbā Series. The translation of the Vedānta-Kaustubha was based on the Sanskrit texts of the Kāśī and Brindāban editions. Differences of readings of the various manuscripts and printed texts of both the treatises have been noted in the footnotes As is well-known the doctrine of Advaita, as developed by Śaṁkara, was the earliest of the Vedāntic systems, and in the great efflorescence of philosophic thought in India during the 9th–16th centuries, various schools of thought arose, mostly as protests against the extreme views held by the Advaita school. There is no doubt that by reason of its great metaphysical appeal and the rigid application of logical canons, Śaṁkara's Advaita-vāda exercised the most profound influence on Indian thought and marked him out as the greatest philosophical genius born in this country. His insistence, however, on the sole reality of 'Abheda' or non-difference and the unreality of Bheda or difference evoked strong reactions, the foremost of which was the Viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda of Rāmānuja, whose importance was only second to that of Śaṁkara. According to him the reality is not an abstract