All the philosophy of the Vedanta-sutra, in a simple way

In the next days, I will be publishing my commentary on the first chapter of the Vedanta-sutra, based on the Govinda-bhasya of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana.

In the next days, I will be publishing my commentary on the first chapter of the Vedanta-sutra, based on the Govinda-bhasya of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Previously, I had published the introduction of the book, and now we will start with the study of the sutras themselves. revealing the deep philosophy of the Vedanta-sutra in a way that is easy to understand.

By following the daily updates on the website, you will get the updates as I post them. You can access what is already there on the page of the book:

There are already a few translations of the Govinda-Bhāṣya into English, including a translation by Kusakratha Prabhu and another by HH Bhanu Swami, but many readers may find the original text hard to follow without additional explanations. Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote his commentary aiming at establishing our Sampradāya and debating with great scholars of his time, who understood Sanskrit and were well familiar with the topics discussed, qualifications we often lack. In this presentation, I try to explain the context and the arguments offered by Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, combined with explanations on the same points given by Srila Prabhupada in his works, making the flow of ideas easier to understand. In other words, this book is not a literal translation of the Govinda Bhasya, but an attempt to explain the points and arguments made by Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa in clear language, in the light of the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

Another concern is to explain the references and verses quoted, not only giving you a translation, but also the whole context of these references. Sri Baladeva frequently quotes verses that conclude different sections from the Upaniṣads. The verses themselves carry a certain meaning, but the real punch resides in the whole sections behind them.

Just like a reference to the theory of relativity makes little sense if one does not know what the theory of relativity is, quotes from the Upanisads make little sense and have little relevance when we are not familiar with the teachings of the passages behind them. Scholars of the time would be well familiar with the talks of Svetaketu and his father from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad or the questionings of Śaunaka Ṛṣi to the sage Angīrasa from the Mundaka Upaniṣad, for example, passages we are often not well familiar with. To ease you into these references, I try as far as possible to explain the whole context, instead of just giving you a direct translation.

Another issue we come upon when trying to offer an explanation of the Brahma-sutras is how to convey the full meaning of each sutra. Each sutra is an extremely compact block of knowledge (some contain a single word!), making their understanding very dependent on the understanding of the context. Each sutra brings the conclusion of a whole philosophical discussion, and it is not possible to fully grasp the meaning without understanding the whole package behind them, just like “E=mc²” means a lot more than “E equals M times C squared”. Until one understands the whole theory, the three letters and two symbols make little sense.

Apart from the philosophical context, understanding of the sutras is also heavily dependent on understanding the broader meaning of different Sanskrit terms used, which have to be learned. More than in other books, it's not really possible to fully understand the sutras without learning some Sanskrit in the process, because the Sanskrit terms are not only mentioned in the sutras but also discussed in the commentary of Sri Baladeva.

In this book, I opted for giving relatively long translations of the sutras, revealing their meaning in detail, followed by explanations of the topics being discussed, the Sanskrit terms used, the arguments and counter-arguments involved in the discussion, the context of the references given, relevant quotes and examples from Srila Prabhupada’s works and so on. By this, I hope you can go deeper into the delicate philosophical points transmitted in the sutras, understanding the flow of logic behind the Vaishnava interpretation of the verses written by Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, under the optics of the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.