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

INTRODUCTION. II We invite the scholars of the सम्प्रदाय as well as others to study these works with devotion, and with a view to approach the Presence of God, for which they have been intended. The generality of people go in the wrong direction because पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत् स्वयंभूः, तस्मात् पराङ् पश्यति नान्तरात्मन्, and because मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश्चियतति सिद्धये. It is only in this भारतवर्ष that people were engrossed so much in religion, for which men like Emerson, Carlyle, Max Muller and many others have lavished praises over it; but here also काल has been rapidly doing its work, and the contact with materialism and आसुरत्व of the West has hastened this change. We have therefore to be very careful, and in all our religious studies we should never miss the goal viz. the Presence of God. We are thankful to many Western Oriental Scholars for the vast amount of labour devoted by them to the study of Sanskrit literature, Vedic and modern. They have approached the subject also very sympathetically, but partly on account of their being strangers unacquainted with our manners and customs with their roots buried in the hoary past, partly on account of partiality for their own Christian religion, partly due to the Doctrine of Evolution which looks upon ancient things in quite a different light, partly on account of want of श्रद्धा, and finally on account of a difference in the idea of civilisation,—the west being generally engrossed in finding fresh means of material comforts and gratification of the senses, and not caring for the vision of God, Who lies deeply buried in the heart,—we have to be very cautious in accepting their premises and their conclusions. Even a sympa- thetic man like Prof. Max Muller, after his lifelong study of Sanskrit literature opined that writing was unknown to Vedic ऋषिस. Again वेद means knowledge from विद् to know and ऋषि means a seer, from दृश् to see. Do they implicitly believe that वेद contains true knowledge and that ऋषिस were Seers? If not, it can well be questioned whether the true meaning underlying these writings will ever be revealed to them. They only see the worship of the Sun and the Moon and elements such as Fire, Water etc. in these writings, and they imagine terror to be the root cause of this worship. We are inclined to ask them as to how many Saints and Sages of भारतवर्ष they believe to have got a vision of God, from Vedic Revelation up to the modern times. One writer after another has written about श्रीवल्लभाचार्य and his System, and has condemned outright the sect of Maharajas. But both श्रीवल्लभाचार्य and श्रीविठ्ठलेश्वर were so holy and learned that they were worshipped, as gods upon the Earth. At that very time another divine personage श्रीकृष्णचैतन्य was similarly worshipped in Bengal. They were all called महाप्रभुs, because they had साक्षात्कार of God, their mind was in tune with the Infinite and they were able to lead their followers into the Presence of God. Millions of men in Gujarat, Kathiawar, Sind, Rajputana, Muttra and Madras, including several princes, are followers of श्रीवल्लभाचार्य, and millions in Bengal and elsewhere are followers of श्रीकृष्णचैतन्य. Many of the descendents of श्रीवल्लभाचार्य have been great devotees and inspired authors, who have kept the torch of Hinduism burning for these four dark centuries. The latest of them पंडित गट्टूलाल— 2347