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

( 11 ) contact with the holy shrine, a result which it is doubtful whether Vallabhā- chārya or Vitthales'vara could have had in their minds, when Vallabhāchārya installed the shrine and Vitthales'vara got its exclusive control. His immediate object then was to exclude the Bengalees only. Perhaps it would not be out of place to remark that this was the occasion when Vitthales'vara lost all traces of Chaitanya thought which he had gained during his visit to Jagannātha in 1616. During his stay at Gokula in Samvat 1629, Rājā Todarmal paid a visit to Vitthales'vara. He was ordered by Emperor Akbar to take the command of the Imperial forces in Behar against king Daud. This was an onerous task and before setting out on his expedition, Todarmall came to Vitthales'vara to invoke his blessings. He was given by Vitthales'vara, a 'Pītāmbara' which Todarmall tied over his head, while he started on his expedition. This would show that Todarmall held Vitthales'vara in very high esteem. Rājā Birbal's connections with Vitthales'vara were equally intimate as stated above. When Vitthales'vara was on his visit to Gujarāt, a controversy seems to have arisen as regards the date on which the Janmāshtami fast was to be observed. On his return he came to know about this and composed a work named जन्माष्टमीनिर्णय stating his view about it with reasons. Possibly the रामनवमीनिर्णय was also written by him under similar circumstances. Having quietly settled at Gokula, he gave definiteness to the religious practices initiated by his father. After Vallabhāchārya, Vitthales'vara's elder brother S'ri Gopīnātha succeeded as Achārya. S'ri Gopīnātha was a great devotee. Vittha- les'vara entertained great respect for his brother. We have not got materials enough to learn how S'ri Gopīnātha understood and expounded the tenets promulgated by his father. We know that he used to reside at Adel for the most part of the year and like his father used to visit Vraja during the monsoon. There he used to perform Gopāla-upāsanā. There is a work called Sādhana-Deepaka, the authorship of which is attributed to him. From this work we do not learn much. One rule laid down in it is that a widow is to worship Krishņa with Bāla-bhāva, while a woman whose husband is living, is to worship Krishņa with Bhartri-bhāva. Though we have failed to trace this distinction to any of the writings of Vallabhāchārya which are extant, we feel that there is some ground for the above rule which is based on common sense. Again, this work, though purporting to detail Sādhanas a Bhakta has to follow, omits any reference to the process of Nivedana which is practised in the Sampradāya even to this day. Beyond this, there is not much in this work elucidating any other point of Vallabhāchārya's philosophy. It seems therefore clear that Vitthales'vara had to depend on his own exertions to under- stand the works of his father. In this effort an unfortunate incident seems 2011