''Govinda Bhashya'' is a

Gaudiya Vaishnava Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnavism, Vaishnava Hindu denominations, Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region o ...

commentary (''

bhasya Bhashya () is a "commentary" or "exposition" of any primary or secondary text in ancient or medieval Indian literature. Common in Sanskrit literature, ''Bhashya'' is also found in other Indian languages. Bhashya are found in various fields, ranging ...

'') on the Vedanta Sutra. It was written in the year 1628 Sakabda (1718 CE) at

Galtaji Galtaji is an ancient Hindu pilgrimage about 10 km away from Jaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The site consists of a series of temples built into a narrow crevice in the ring of hills that surrounds Jaipur. A natural spring eme ...

(Galta) near the present city of

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, by

Baladeva Vidyabhushana Baladeva Vidyabhushana (also written ) ( 1700 – 1793 AD) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya (religious teacher).Despite being renowned all over the world as the Gaudiya Vedanta Acarya, the scarcity of available authentic biodata has led misin ...

to defend Gaudiya Vaishnava theology.

Govinda Bhashya: Gaudiya Vaishnava commentary on Vedanta

Around this time (1718 CE), a branch of the Sri (

Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...

)

Sampradaya ''Sampradaya'' ( sa, सम्प्रदाय; ), in Indian origin religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, can be translated as 'tradition', 'spiritual lineage', 'sect', or 'religious system'. To ensure continuity and ...

known as the

Ramanandi sect The Ramanandi ( IAST ), also known as Ramavats ( IAST ), are a branch of the Vaishnava Sri Sampradaya of Hinduism. Ramananda sect is the largest sect of Vaishnavas, out of 52 gates of Vaishnavism, 36 are held by Ramanandi's. They mainly empha ...

, in the court of the king Sadacari Raja at

, complained that since the Gaudiya Vaisnavas had no commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, they were not qualified to worship the Deity and therefore the worship should be turned over to the Sri Sampradaya. They also objected to the worship of Srimati Radharani along with Sri

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

as not being authorised anywhere in the

shastra ''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...

s. The king was initiated within the Gaudiya sampradaya and he sent word to Vrindavana, informing the devotees what had happened. At that time Srila

Visvanatha Chakravarti Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur (; 1626 – 1708) was a Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya born in the village of Devagram, which is now in the Nadia district of West Bengal, India. His parents were Radhi Sreni ''brahmanas''. He also had two brothers ...

was very aged so in his place he sent his student, Sri Baladeva. In a great assembly he posed such forceful arguments to the followers of Ramanuja that they could not reply to them. He further explained: "The originator of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has accepted Srimad Bhagavatam as the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, as composed by Srila Vyasadeva Himself. This is proven in the Sat-sandarbhas." The scholars in the assembly, however, refused to accept anything other than a direct commentary on the sutra. Having no other recourse, Baladeva promised to present them with one. Feeling very aggrieved, Sri Baladeva came to Sri Govindaji's mandira (temple) and informed Sri Govinda of everything that had happened. That night the Lord appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to write a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra: "I will dictate to you what to write and therefore no one will be able to refuse to accept it." Thus Baladeva began to write, and within a few days completed the commentary which was titled 'Sri Govinda Bhashya'. It convinced the Ramanandi scholars and they bestowed upon Sri Baladeva the title 'Vidyabhushana' ('ornament of knowledge ( vidya)'). They expressed their desire to accept initiation from Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana. However, he declined their request by stating that amongst the four authorized sampradayas, the Sri sampradaya was highly respectable and the foremost adherent of dasya-bhakti (devotion in servitorship). If there was any cause of loss of respect to the sampradaya this might be considered an offense. An English translation of this text was presented by Rai Bahadur

Srisa Chandra Vasu Sris Chandra Basu or Srish Chandra Vasu (20 March 1861 – 23 June 1918) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar, judge, writer and translator of numerous works. He translated major yoga texts such as the '' Yogaśāstra'', the '' Gheranda Samhita'', and t ...

in 1916.

External links

Govinda Bhasya
(incomplete)
Govinda Bhasya fragments
Vaishnavism