अणुभाष्य (महाप्रभु वल्लभाचार्य - शुद्धाद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र महाभाष्य प्रकाश टीका सहित)

INTRODUCTION. S'rī Vallabhacharya And His Aṇu-Bhāshya. S'rīmad Vallabhacharya, the author of the 'Aṇu Bhashya', was born on the 11th day of the dark half of Chaitra, 1535 Samvat, (1479. A. D.), in the forest of Champa near Raipur. His father was Lakshmaṇa Bhatta, and Yallammagaru was his mother. He was a Telagu Brahmin studying the Taitirīya S'ākhā of the Black Yajur-Veda. Vallabha's birth is shrouded in the mysteries of the devotional beliefs of his followers, but one thing is certain that his followers believed that he was commissioned by God to inaugurate a great religious revival in India. From the writings of Vallabha which are available now, we can say that this belief was shared by himself also. It is not an uncommon phenomenon in India. Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Chaitanya, and several other great teachers did believe in their special messages to the world. Vallabha's ancestors were Deekshitas, and were devoted to Krishna in the form of Gopāla. The Swarūpa of Madana-Mohanji in the Seventh Pītha is the one which came to him from his Sixth ancestor Yajna Narayana Bhatta. It is possible that Vallabha's father Lakshmaṇa Bhatta and his ancestors were the Upāsakas of Gopāla according to the cult of Vishṇuswami. The early years of Vallabha were passed by him with his father at Benares, where he is said to have mastered all the Vedas, Six Dars'anas, and all schools of Āstika and Nāstika thinkers. He studied the S'aiva and Vaishṇava Āgamas. When Vallabha was comparatively young, his father died. Vallabha wanted to study the Vaishṇava systems of Madhva, Ramanuja, Nimbarka and others, and seeing that they were not prevalent there, in order to have direct knowledge, he is said to have proceeded to the South. Vallabha's desire to go to the south of India was very natural. During that time there was the powerful Hindu kingdom of Vijaya-Nagar or Vidya-Nagar, over which ruled the mighty monarch Krishṇadeva-Raya, himself a great Vaishṇava. During his time, it seems a convention was held of the representatives of all the existing Sampra- dāyas. The session seems to have been going on when Vallabha visited Vijaya- Nagar. The main dispute seems to have been between Vyāsa Tīrtha, the Mādhva, and some representative of Mayavadins. It seems also clear that the Dwaita philosophy of the Mādhvas could not hold its own against the attacks of S'ānkaras. At this juncture Vallabha seems to have baffled all by his great learning and powerful arguments. We see no reason to doubt this fact. The author of a recently discovered work Vyāsa-Yoga-Charitam, from Vyāsa Raya Matha, does chronicle the fact that Vallabhacharya was honoured by the king Krishṇadeva Raya, under the presidentship of the then famous Mādhva Swami Vyasa Tīrtha. Vallabha's position was peculiar. He accepted Adwaita pure and simple without the interference of the Māyāvāda of S'ankara; hence all the attacks advanced by Mādhvas and others against Advaita lost their force as against him. His acceptance of 'शुद्धाद्वैत' disarmed the opposi- tion of both Vaishṇavas and S'ānkaras. The position taken up by Vallabha