A small detail about the life of Srila Prabhupada that many may not know is that in the early days of our movement after he wrote the Bhagavad-Gita as it is and Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada started writing a commentary on the Vedanta Sutra based on the Govinda Bhashya of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana, that he called the “Bhaktivedanta Bhasya”.

To justify the need for such a book, he wrote: “In India especially the system is that anyone who is the head of a religious institution must be well conversed with the Vedanta-sutras, and is expected to write comments on the Vedanta-sutra, without which one is not accepted as an acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic knowledge. He personally practices them as well as teaches to his disciples the system of Vedic knowledge.”

Being the founder acarya of our society, Srila Prabhupada apparently considered that presenting his own commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, following the conclusions of the previous Vaishnava acaryas would help to solidify the reputation of our society as a bonafide philosophical school.

Srila Prabhupada went as far as writing a lengthy introduction to this book, which was later found and published by Kusakratha Prabhu as a preface to his own translation of the Govinda Bhashya.

As he wrote: “The necessity of presenting the Bhaktivedanta-bhasya commentary on Vedanta-sutra should also be explained herein. My spiritual master, Om Visnupada Paramhamsa Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, ordered me to present the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy in English as far as possible, and in this attempt for the English-knowing persons, since 1965 I have been in the western countries with my three books of the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then I presented my commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavad-gita known as The Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and similarly, I have presented The Teachings of Lord Caitanya. Also, as requested by many of my Western disciples, especially my worthy disciples Sriman Hansadutta Das Adhikari and Janardana Das Adhikari, who are in charge of the Montreal Center, I am trying to present an English commentary on the Vedanta-sutra as follows.
At the present moment all over the world, there are major portions of godless persons. Generally, people are very attached to the void philosophy presented by Lord Buddha or the impersonal philosophy presented by Sankaracarya. In other words, to be more plain and simple, people are becoming very atheistic.
To say that there is no God, as the atheists declare, is rather bold and simple, but to say that there is a supreme cause that is void, or there is God but He has no form, is more dangerous than the simple declaration that there is no God.
Our society, known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has now started the movement for Krsna Consciousness, and it is very gratifying that the younger generation of the western part of the world, in America, Canada, and Europe, are taking interest in this great movement. We already have branches in almost every important city in the United States and Canada, and we have started centers also in London and Hamburg. We hope that our Krsna Consciousness movement will gradually increase, as predicted by Lord Caitanya, who said that His missionary activities, the same as the Krsna Consciousness movement, will be preached all over the world, in every village in every country. Taking into consideration the present activities of this movement, it is hoped that the prediction of Lord Caitanya will soon be fulfilled and the people of the world will be very happy, having Krsna Consciousness.”

He then proceeds to explain the importance of the Vedanta Sutra in the light of other Vaishnava books: “Vedanta means the last word in the matter of pursuing knowledge. Everyone is pursuing some sort of knowledge. There are universities, institutions, and many educational establishments pursuing knowledge, but Vedanta means the last word in the pursuit of knowledge. This last word in the pursuit of knowledge is explained in the Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krsna. The purpose of Vedic knowledge is to understand Krsna. The exact words in the 15th Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita are sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah. “the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. He gives intelligence and delusion. He is the original source of knowledge. He is the goal of knowledge. He is the compiler of Vedanta-sutra, and He knows what is Vedanta.”

These words are a very significant explanation of Vedanta-sutra by Krsna himself. In another place also He has referred to the Vedanta-sutra by saying, “By the course of Brahma-sutra one can actually understand what is the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita.” Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta-sutra are very intimately interrelated. To understand Vedanta-sutra rightly is to understand Bhagavad-gita rightly. The word sutra means “summarized code”. In the Skanda and Vayu Puranasthe word sutra is explained as “when a thesis is presented in few words, but with great volumes of meaning and, when understood, is very beautiful.”

Unfortunately, Srila Prabhupada never went ahead with this work. Soon he started working on the Krsna book, the many volumes of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and later the Caitanya Caritamrta. In the middle of this flow of publications, the commentary on the Vedanta Sutra seems to have fallen into the background and never concluded. According to memories of disciples, Srila Prabhupada commented on the occasion that he intended to write other commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita, exploring in more detail the conclusion of different Vaishnava acaryas, as well as commenting on the Brhad-Bhagavatamrta, Jaiva-Dharma and other important works. Unfortunately, nothing of these came to fruition. Krsna had other plans.

This is the full text of the introduction written by Srila Prabhupada:

“All Glories to Guru and Gauranga.
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.

First of all, let me offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master Om Visnupada Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, then my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is associated with Sri Advaita Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Gadadhara Prabhu, Srivasa Prabhu, as well as whose eternal assistants are the six gosvamis, headed by Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, Ragaunatha dasa Gosvami, as well as whose private secretary is Sri Svarupa Damodara dasa and His eternal attendant Govinda.

Then let us talk about the Brahma-sutra or Vedanta-sutra. There are many comments on the Vedanta-sutra. In India especially the system is that anyone who is the head of a religious institution must be well conversed with the Vedanta-sutras, and is expected to write comments on the Vedanta-sutra, without which one is not accepted as an acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic knowledge. He personally practices them as well as teaches to his disciples the system of Vedic knowledge.

There are many acaryas, especially of the vaisnava-sampradaya, like the four sampradayas: ramanuja-sampradaya, madhvacarya-sampradaya, visnusvami-sampradaya, and nimbarka-sampradaya. Our sampradaya is called gaudiya-sampradaya, or the Vaisnavas who are in the disciplic succession of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The gaudiya-sampradaya actually belongs to the madhva-sampradaya and the madhva-sampradaya belongs to the brahma-sampradaya.

Besides these four vaisnava-acarya-sampradayas, there are also non-vaisnava-sampradayas, especially the impersonalist school headed by Sankaracarya. Sankaracarya has written a commentary on the Vedanta-sutras, known as Sariraka-bhasya. Generally, this Sariraka-bhasya made by Sankaracarya is very popular on account of the present Indians being influenced by materialistic activities. But still, the other different bhasyas, or commentaries, made by the Vaishnava acaryas are also available in the gaudiya-sampradaya, specifically headed by Rupa Gosvami.

In the beginning, there was no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra because according to Srimad- Bhagavatam it is said that the real commentary on the Vedanta-sutra is Srimad-Bhagavatam itself, presented by the author, Sri Vyasadeva Himself. In our English commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavatam First Canto, First Chapter, we have explained the fact that Srimad- Bhagavatam is the right type of commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. As such the gaudiya-vaisnava-sampradaya did not take much care to present their commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.

About 200 years ago there was a conclusion in the Golpa district in Jaipur, wherein the acaryas or followers of other sampradayas challenged the gaudiya-vaisnava-sampradaya that it has no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. At that time Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura was living in Vrndavana, but he was too old, and when the Gaudiya Vaisnavas approached him to present a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, he asked his disciple, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana to write a commentary on the Vedanta- sutra. As Vaisnavas are generally very humble and meek, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana thought himself unfit to write an authorized commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, so he approached Lord Govinda in the temple of Jaipur. He placed himself down before Lord Govinda to take his permission and authority to begin writing a commentary on the Vedanta- sutra, and he was assured by Govinda that he could do so. With this inspiration, he wrote the Vedanta-sutra commentary known as Govinda-bhasya. This Govinda-bhasya is very authorized and accepted by all the vaisnava-sampradayas, This commentary, which may be known as Bhaktivedanta-bhasya, follows the footprints of Govinda-bhasya.

The necessity of presenting the Bhaktivedanta-bhasya commentary on Vedanta-sutra should also be explained herein. My spiritual master, Om Visnupada Paramhamsa Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, ordered me to present the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy in English as far as possible, and in this attempt for the English-knowing persons, since 1965 I have been in the western countries with my three books of the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then I presented my commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavad-gita known as The Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and similarly, I have presented The Teachings of Lord Caitanya. Also, as requested by many of my Western disciples, especially my worthy disciples Sriman Hansadutta Das Adhikari and Janardana Das Adhikari, who are in charge of the Montreal Center, I am trying to present an English commentary on the Vedanta-sutra as follows.

At the present moment all over the world, there are major portions of godless persons. Generally, people are very attached to the void philosophy presented by Lord Buddha or the impersonal philosophy presented by Sankaracarya. In other words, to be more plain and simple, people are becoming very atheistic.

To say that there is no God, as the atheists declare, is rather bold and simple, but to say that there is a supreme cause that is void, or there is God but He has no form, is more dangerous than the simple declaration that there is no God.

Our society, known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has now started the movement for Krsna Consciousness, and it is very gratifying that the younger generation of the western part of the world, in America, Canada, and Europe, are taking interest in this great movement. We already have branches in almost every important city in the United States and Canada, and we have started centers also in London and Hamburg. We hope that our Krsna Consciousness movement will gradually increase, as predicted by Lord Caitanya, who said that His missionary activities, the same as the Krsna Consciousness movement, will be preached all over the world, in every village in every country. Taking into consideration the present activities of this movement, it is hoped that the prediction of Lord Caitanya will soon be fulfilled and the people of the world will be very happy, having Krsna Consciousness.

As referred to above, generally the commentary known as Sariraka-bhasya is taken by the people as the purport of Vedanta, or in other words Vedanta means according to the opinion of the followers of Sankaracarya ‘s purport as explained by him in Sariraka-bhasya. Besides the Sariraka-bhasya of Sankaracarya there are many other atheistic schools preaching Vedanta on the basis of godlessness.

One of the prominent followers of Sankaracarya, namely Sadananda Yogindra, has compiled his book known as Vedanta-sara, in which he writes to prove that the to understand both the upanisads and the Vedanta-sutra, Sankaracarya’s Sariraka-bhasya is the only means. This is the claim of monopoly by the mayavada school. Actually Vedanta-sutra has many commentaries and all those commentaries are not on the basic principal of monism or impersonalism.

All the prominent acaryas of the different vaisnava-sampradayas have complied commentaries on Vedanta-sutra, but they do not follow the principles of the Cagkarite school. On the other hand, the impersonalist monists stress more on non-duality. Generally, they declare themselves God and there is no existance of God separately.

The monistic school does not recognize the Vedanta commentaries presented by the Vaisnava acaryas, known as the suddhadvaita, vicistadvaita and dvaitadvaita, as well as the inconceivably-one-and- different philosophy of Lord Caitanya, known as acintyabheda-bheda-tattva. According to them the monistic commentary on Vedanta-sutra is final, Lord Krsna has a material body, and the followers of the philosophy of Krsna Consciousness are not transcendentalists.

Vedanta means the last word in the matter of pursuing knowledge. Everyone is pursuing some sort of knowledge. There are universities, institutions, and many educational establishments pursuing knowledge, but Vedanta means the last word in the pursuit of knowledge. This last word in the pursuit of knowledge is explained in the Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krsna. The purpose of Vedic knowledge is to understand Krsna. The exact words in the 15th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita are sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah. “the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. He gives intelligence and delusion. He is the original source of knowledge. He is the goal of knowledge. He is the compiler of Vedanta-sutra, and He knows what is Vedanta.”

These words are a very significant explanation of Vedanta-sutra by Krsna himself. In another place also He has referred to the Vedanta-sutra by saying, “By the course of Brahma-sutra one can actually understand what is the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita.” Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta-sutra are very intimately interrelated. To understand Vedanta- sutra rightly is to understand Bhagavad-gita rightly.The word sutra means “summarized code”. In the Skanda and Vayu Puranasthe word sutra is explained as “when a thesis is presented in few words, but with great volumes of meaning and, when understood, is very beautiful.”

Mentioned herein are the names of different commentaries on Vedanta-sutra by different acaryas.

Sankaracarya: advaita-vedanta

This Sariraka-bhasya of Sankaracarya is also known as Vedanta-siddhanta. The summary of non-dualism philosophy expounded by Sankaracarya is as follows.

According to this philosophy there is only the Absolute Truth. To this philosophy the living entity is Brahman and the cosmic manifestation is false. The example of reality and falsity is given by them in the comparison of mistaking a serpent and a rope. In the darkness, in illusion, a rope may be accepted as a serpent. When one comes to his senses he understands that the rope was not a serpent. Then the “serpent” becomes false. Similarly, according to Sankara’s philosophy this cosmic manifestation actually is not. Maya means “What is not.” Ma means “not” and ya means “this”. In other words the phenomenal representation of the material world has no reality. Behind this phenomena the noumenon is reality.

According to Sankara’s philosophy the Absolute Truth is impersonal. As such there is no diversity. In the material world there are different kinds of diversity, just as diversities of the species of life. The dog species are not like the human being species. This speciality, dog species or human species, is present in the material world, but spiritually there is no such differentiation. Even in personal considerations there are diversities. In a personal form one has legs, hands and head. But this differentiation, according to the mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya, is also false. Sankaracarya does not recognize qualifying the Brahman, just as Vaisnava philosophy qualifies the Supreme Brahman. Take for example: God is merciful. This is a qualification of God or the Absolute Truth. But, Sankara’s philosophy being impersonal, they do not accept the Absolute Truth qualified by mercifulness, or beauty, or opulence. They do not accept. According to them if the Absolute Truth is qualified then it becomes limited by the qualification.

Their conclusion is that if Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, is unlimited, there should not be any limitation by qualification. The incarnation of the Absolute Truth, or Godhead, is accepted by them as a manifestation of material designation. In other words, according to Sankara’s philosophy when God or the Absolute Truth incarnates He assumes a material body. Therefore He is designated. In that designated form only the Absolute Truth becomes the creator, sustainer, and annihilator of the cosmic manifestation, although in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, in the beginning, Sankaracarya has accepted that Narayana is beyond this cosmic manifestation. Everything that is manifested in the material world is produced from the unmanifested mahat-tattva, but Narayana is still transcendental to the mahat-tattva. In other words, he has accepted that the mahat-tattva is also created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana. There are so many contradictions in his philosophy. That is a different subject matter. We do not wish to enter into the contradictions of his philosophy, but as far as possible we are presenting the summary of mayavada philosophy, non-dualism.

According to Sankaracarya, in the highest spiritual conception, the Absolute Truth is without any contamination of material existence, and therefore He has no connection with the creation, sustenance, or annihilation (of the material world). He is always devoid of all qualities, without any diversity, without any material condition, and without any responsibility of activities. As such, the cosmic manifestation is also false. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who accepts His designation from this false material manifestation, the conception of the Personality of Godhead, is also false. The Absolute Truth is only conceived as eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. The appearance as Narayana, or as an incarnation, is
not eternal but is temporary. For some purpose, He appears like that. The ultimate end is impersonal.

According to Sankara’s philosophy, the differentiation between God and the living entities is an illusion. Actually, that is not the fact. The living entities are not subordinate energy of the Supreme. Simply being covered by the conception of maya, the living entities appear to be different from the Absolute Truth. This differentiation between the living entities and the Supreme is manifested in the material world in ordinary dealings. Spiritually there is no such difference. The activities of the living entity in the spirit of enjoyment in the material world, his infinitesimal quality, or his minuteness, or his inumerableness, are only designations of the false maya. An example in this connection given by the mayavadi philosophers is that, when reflected by a red flower, crystal glass appears to be red, although this has nothing to do with the redness of the glass. It is completely different from the color. Similarly, the living entity in the contamination of maya becomes active, or becomes an enjoyer, or becomes infinitesimal, or in other words, becomes individual. All these things are artificial color reflections only. Actually, a living entity is pure Brahman. This theory of reflection is called pratibimbavada. According to this philosophy, transcendentally there is no difference between the Absolute Truth, the living entities, and material nature.

This non-differentiation between the Absolute Truth, the living entities, and the cosmic manifestation, is exemplified by the mayavadi philosopher by the following example of the entire sky and the pot. The sky in the pot and the entire sky are the same. But the sky within the pot appears to be limited on account of being designated by the pot cover. When the pot is broken, or the illusion of maya is dissipated, there is no such difference that this pot is different from that pot, or this sky is different from that sky. According to Sankaracarya this cosmic manifestation is also maya. When these material elements disappear, then only existential Brahman will remain. Therefore, Brahman is truth and this cosmic manifestation is false.

Sankaracarya does not accept the theory of transformation, as the Vaisnava acaryas, do. The theory of transformation is explained in this way. Just as milk is transformed into yogurt under certain conditions, but yogurt cannot be transformed again into milk, nor can it be used as milk, in the same way the living entities cannot become the Supreme Absolute Truth. This theory of transformation is not accepted by the mayavadi philosopher.

Actually, this kind of propaganda by Sankaracarya was done under Supreme order to dissipate the dark Buddhist philosophy and to establish the Vedic philosophy, the Absolute truth. According to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sankara’s mayavada philosophy is another edition of Buddha’s philosophy. Buddha’s philosophy of voidness is almost equal to the impersonal philosophy of Sankara. Therefore, according to Sankara’s philosophy, impersonal non-variegatedness is the ultimate stage of perfect knowledge.

Ramanujacarya: visistadvaita-vada

The greatest opposition was offered by Sri Ramanujacarya to the Sankara philosophy. Ramanuja’s philosophy is known as visistadvaita-vada. This doctrine of visistadvaita-vada was not newly presented by Sri Ramanujacarya, but before him there were other exponents of this doctrine and they are known as Nathamuni and Yamunacarya.

The basic principle of the visistadvaita-vada doctrine is that in God’s creation, there is the division of sentient and non-sentient, just as in studying our own self we find that our body is material or non-sentient, and our mind intelligence and false ego are the path between my self and my body. My self is sentient. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is sentient, and this material cosmic manifestation is His body. Combined together, the Absolute Truth forms a combination of the sentient and non-sentient features. This is called visistadvaita-vada.

According to Sri Ramanujacarya, there are three truths: namely the sentient, the non-sentient, and the Supreme Lord. They are generally called tattva-traya. The innumerable living entities as a group are called the sentient energy of the Supreme Lord, whereas the cosmic manifestation is called the material energy of the Lord.

The Lord Himself is above them. He has all-auspicious transcendental qualities. He is omniscient and omnipotent. He is self-effulgent. He is the Lord of the creation. He is known as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. The material world and the living entities are sentient and insentient bodily parts of the Lord. Sri Ramanujacarya has elaborately delineated his philosophy in 12 divisions as follows;

1. The Supreme Absolute Truth is one in the combination of gross, subtle, sentient, and insentient groups,
2. He has protested against the doctrine of dualism as well as the doctrine of monism.
3. He has accepted that the Absolute Truth, Brahman, has transcendental qualities and transcendental potencies, and therefore He is not impersonal
4. He has vehemently protested the doctrine of an impersonal, non-qualitative Absolute Truth.
5. He has deliberately established the doctrine of the living entities being infinitesimal and the in supreme Lord being infinite, and therefore the infinitesimal living entities are constitutionally meant to serve the infinite Supreme Personality of Godhead.
6. He has established that the living entities, who are infinitesimal, are subject to fall victim under ignorance, but when they are out of that position of ignorance they become again liberated.
7. He has proved that only transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord is the means of liberation from material entanglement.
8. According to his opinion, devotional service is the supermost process for self-realization.
9. He has stated strongly that even in the state of liberation one cannot be equal with the Supreme Lord.
10. He has put strong arguments against the impersonal doctrine of monism.
11. He has proved that this material world is abominable, and the spiritual world is real life for eternal bliss.
12. He has established that the living entities and the cosmic manifestation are different bodily parts of the Supreme Lord.

Also, Ramanujacarya has explained that the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends in five different features, namely arca, the Deity in the temple, the incarnations, such as the fish-incarnation, tortoise-incarnation, boar-incarnation, and Nrsimha-incarnation, which are called vaibhava.

Then He has expansions called vyuha, such as the expansions of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. His impersonal expansion is the effulgence of His body. He is also present in everyone’s heart as Antaryami or the Supersoul. All these different plenary portions of the Supreme Lord are beyond material contamination, eternal, without any lamentation, always superior to the living entities, and full of six opulences.

According to Ramanujacarya, there are five kinds of methods of worship, which are called abhigamana, upadana, ijya, sadhyaya, and yoga. When devotees go to the temple, clean the temple or the path to the temple, and decorate the temple in various ways, such activities are called abhigamana. The collection of ingredients such as flowers and other paraphernalia for worship is called upadana. Worship of the Lord in the temple is called ijya. Chanting different mantras and offering different kinds of prayers is called sadhyaya. Meditation, or remembering the activities of the Lord in full absorption, is called yoga. Practicing all different kinds of worship one can attain the planets in the spiritual world known as Vaikunthaloka. According to Sri Ramanujacarya, attainment of Vaikuntha is the highest perfectional stage.

The greatness of Ramanujacarya is that he himself, and later on his disciplic succession, ever-increasingly protested the impersonalism of Sankaracarya. Still in southern India, these two parties come into conflict and generally, the party belonging to the ramanujacarya-sampradaya is victorious.

Pancaratra regulative principles were current before the advent of Sankaracarya, but on account of the influence of Buddha’s philosophy such pancaratra regulative principles were stopped. Sankaracarya, instead of directly re-establishing the pancaratra method, took shelter of mayavada philosophy to defeat Buddha’s philosophy. Sri Ramanujacarya re-established the pancaratra or worship.

Madhvacarya: suddha-dvaitavada

After Sri Ramanujacarya is the appearance of Madhvacarya, whose doctrine is suddha-dvaitavada. He very strongly established the doctrine of duality, that God, or the Absolute Truth, and the living entities are completely different entities, on the evidence of Brahma-sutra or Vedanta-sutra, as well as Bhagavad-gita, the puranas, and the Narada-pancaratra.

He proved duality in every stage namely that the Supreme Lord and the living entity are two different entities. Similarly the cosmic manifestation and the Supreme Lord are also two different entities. One living entity is different from another living entity. In other words, each and every living entity is individual.

There is a difference between sentient and non-sentient entities, and there is also a difference between one kind of insentient matter and another kind of insentient matter. Madhvacarya established that two is not one, but two. One truth is completely independent and the other truth is dependent. Lord Visnu is the supreme independent Personality of Godhead, qualified with transcendental qualities without any material contamination. Therefore He is fully independent.

Except for Lord Visnu, anything else, either cosmic manifestation or living entities, are not independent but are dependent on the Supreme Lord. The living entities are qualitative representations of the Supreme Lord. The doctrine that man is made after God is accepted by Madhvacarya. The features of man are an exact reflection of the features of the Supreme Lord. He also accepts that the Supreme Lord expands in multi-pleanary-portions, as well as separated portions called jiva-tattva. All the jiva-tattvas, or living entities, are eternal associates of the Supreme Lord to render transcendental loving service to Him. The living entities’ knowledge is always inferior or incomplete.

The Supreme Lord and the living entities are always in the position of Supreme and subordinate. The living entities are always subordinate. They have no independent power. As is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, 5th Chapter, 15th Verse, the Lord says that knowledge and remembrance are always given by the Supreme Lord, as antaryami, or Supersoul, to the living entities. Otherwise, the living entities have no independent power to memorize, think, or act. In contrast to the living entity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, is complete in knowledge and complete in bliss. He is always worshipable by the living entities and He is the original supreme dominator whereas the living entities are the original predominated. He is, therefore, the original creator of the cosmic manifestation, which is also eternal, although temporarily manifested. Therefore both the living entities and the cosmic manifestation are under the subordination of the Supreme Lord.

The Supreme Lord is always differently situated, as is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is said that everything is resting on the Supreme Lord, but still He is always different from everything. According to Madhvacarya, even at the time of cosmic dissolution the living entities and the material energy remain separate from the Supreme Lord. They are never mixed up as is advocated by the impersonalists.

Madhvacarya was in very great opposition to the doctrine of Sankaracarya. Practically the madhvacarya sampradaya followers are simply fighting against the doctrine of mayavada philosophy propounded by Sankaracarya. He defeated the doctrine of Sankaracarya and established the doctrine of duality.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: acintya-bhedabheda-tattva

Apart from the above-mentioned two doctrines of visistadvaita-vada and suddha-dvaitavada, there are other doctrines advocated by the visnusvami-sampradaya and nimbarka-sampradaya. The visnusvami-sampradaya later on developed into the baladeva-sampradaya. Their doctrine is called suddha-dvaitavada, and the doctrine of nimbarka-sampradaya is called dvaitadvaitavada.

An adjustment of all the doctrines visistadvaita-vada, suddha-dvaitavada, suddhadvaitavada, and dvaitadvaitavada was very nicely done by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in his doctrine acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. In this doctrine, Lord Caitanya has discussed very elaborately all kinds of old and new doctrines in the matter of understanding transcendental subject matter, and in order to minimize the different views of different philosophers, He has added a very nice conception which is called acintya.

This word is very applicable to the philosophical doctrines of the conditioned soul. A conditioned soul actually cannot ascertain the nature of the Absolute Truth simply by speculation, but only through the authority of Vedic knowledge. The word acintya applies in all the doctrines.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was not very concerned about these doctrines to understand the Absolute Truth. His main business was to distribute to the general mass of people the principles of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.

According to Srimad-Bhagavatam, all philosophical speculation and religious principles combined together culminate in the understanding of love of Godhead. Man cannot be satisfied simply by religious sentiments or philosophical speculation but, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, when one is elevated to the platform of rendering loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead without any motive and without being hampered by any material condition, that stage of transcendental realization is the highest principle of spiritual understanding, and in that stage only one can be fully satisfied.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu was more concerned to deliver to the people this status of life without much bothering about philosophical speculations. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never labored very much to present a thesis of this doctrine in a seperate book, but later on his disciplic succession, especially, among the six Gosvamis, Srila Jiva Gosvami has presented six theses, which combinedly are called Sat-sandharbha. Of the six sandharbhas the one known as Tattva-sandharbha is a practical presentation of this doctrine and explains Vedanta-sutra strictly according to the principles of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Later on, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana took this doctrine and explained Vedanta-sutra strictly according to the principle of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva.”