Commentary, with supercommentary on Brahmasūtra of Bādarāyaṇa, presenting the viewpoint of Śuddhādvaita school in Hindu philosophy.

The Puṣṭipravāhamaryādābheda (PPM) by Vallabhācārya (1479–1531?) is a brief work (25 verses) written in Sanskrit in about the year 1500, which is accompanied by four Sanskrit commentaries and one Hindi (Brajbhāṣạ) commentary. The most important and authoritative commentary is by Puruṣottama, written about two centuries after the original text. The article contains a translation of the PPM with long extracts from the commentaries, particularly the one composed by Puruṣottama. After an introduction placing the PPM’s doctrine of the hierarchy of (...) embodied souls (jīvas) and their eligibility to obtain states of devotion (bhakti) in a wider context of Vaiṣṇava sectarian and philosophical schools, the text is presented along with the translation and notes to the text (including extracts from the commentaries). The article concludes with reflections on the PPM’s doctrine of predestination, comparing it with those of other Indian religious sects and within the wider context of predestination in Western religions, where these discussions have been ongoing for more than 1500 years. An extensive bibliography is included at the end. (shrink)

Bhāvas, or comprehensive states of mental and emotional awareness, manifest different guṇas, or attributes, of the Lord. These attributes are wholly composed of saccidānanda, but due to variations in their bearers (ādhāra), which is to say in the antaḥkaraṇa of different speakers and listeners, they are affected, expressed, and experienced differently. In this way, bhāvas cannot exist without the Lord’s divine attributes, nor can they exist in the absence of the individual jīva. They are eternal because they belong to the (...) Lord but become meaningful only because the individual through the senses can realize them. They thus serve as a fulcrum between the human and divine, and it is at this delicate point of balance that līlā is played out. (shrink)

Description: One of the foremost leaders of the devotional revolution which swept through Hindu society in the 15th and 16th centuries was Vallabhacarya. In terms of religion, Vallabhacarya's main contribution was his demonstration of the way in which a human being can shed his or her limited, mortal ego in order to rediscover an eternal individual participation in an unlimited divine being. With regard to literature, some of the earliest prose writing in any form of Hindi was produced by Vallabhacarya's (...) followers in the Caurasi Vaisnavan Ki Varta a collection of accounts of personal efforts to apply the teachings of Vallabhacarya to everyday life. The first part of the Bhakti sect of Vallabhacarya deals with Vallabhacarya's life and with his establishment of an organisation for his followers, a philosophical system to explain his view of the world and a spiritual method for putting his teachings into practice. The second part of the book is made up of an English translation of the sections of the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta describing the lives of four early disciples of Vallabhacarya, one of whom was the poet Suradasa. (shrink)

This Book Is The Result Of Intensive And Critical Study Of The Different Aspects Of Indian Epistemology Viz. The Nyaya Theory Of Perception, Some Problems Of Meaning In Purva-Mimamsa And Vedanta, Problem Of Vyapti According To Jaina-Logicians And Vallabhacarya Etc.

Description: Suddhadvaita or the system of Pure Monism of Sri Vallabhacarya claims to be the most faithful and authentic exposition of the real teachings of the Upanisads as it purifies the Non-Dual Ultimate Reality of the extraneous concept of Maya introduced by Samkara under the influence of Buddhism. In this system we have the concept of Non-Dualism or Advaita in its pristine, Upanisadic sense unblemished by Samkara's Illusionism, the concept of a Concrete, Personal and determinate Ultimate Reality. In recent years (...) many important works expounding the philosophy of Sri Vallabhacarya have been published but none of them have endeavoured a problem-wise study of this system which is essential for its proper understanding vis-a-vis the claims of other Vaisnavite schools. This book attempts to supplement this want by under-taking a problem-wise exposition of the philosophy of Sri Vallabha and his followers incorporating the views and solutions of other schools as well. Vallabhism as a philosophico-religious creed of Vaisnavism has the distinction of putting forward a novel creed and theory of Bhakti known as Pusti-bhakti which acquires a central place in the Suddhadvaita system. The author has, therefore, discussed it, at length, to distinguish it from other forms of Bhakti propagated in other schools of Vaisnavism. The author has, in this study, based himself only on Samskrta sources providing the reader with an outline of the basic philosophical and religious theories and concepts of Sri Vallabhacarya and his followers. (shrink)