गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

About 200 years ago there was a conclusion in Galta district in Jaipur, wherein
the ācāryas or followers of other sampradāyas challenged the gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-
sampradāya that it has no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. At that time Śrī
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was living in Vṛndāvana, but he was too old, and
when the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas approached him to present a commentary on the
Vedānta-sūtra, he asked his disciple, Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa to write a
commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. As Vaiṣṇavas are generally very humble and
meek, Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa thought himself unfit to write an authorized
commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, 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 Vedānta-sūtra, and he was assured
by Govinda that he could do so. With this inspiration he wrote the Vedānta-sūtra
commentary known as Govinda-bhāṣya. This Govinda-bhāṣya is very authorized
and accepted by all the vaiṣṇava-sampradāyas, This commentary, which may be
known as Bhaktivedanta-bhāṣya, follows the footprints of Govinda-bhāṣya.
The necessity of presenting the Bhaktivedanta-bhāṣya commentary on Vedānta-
sūtra should also be explained herein. My spiritual master, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda
Paramahaṁsa Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, ordered me
to present the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava 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 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Then I presented my commentary on the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā known as The
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and similarly I have presented The Teachings of Lord
Caitanya. Also, requested by many of my western disciples, especially my worthy
disciples Śrīmān Hansadutta Das Adhikari and Janardana Das Adhikari, who are in
charge of the Montreal Center, and I am trying to present an English commentary
on the Vedānta-sūtra 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 Śaṅkarācārya. 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 Kṛṣṇa 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 of the United States and Canada, and we have started
centers also in London and Hamburg. We hope that our Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
movement will gradually increase, as predicted by Lord Caitanya, who said that
His missionary activities, the same as the Kṛṣṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.
As referred to above, generally the commentary known as Śārīraka-bhāṣya is
taken by the people as the purport of Vedānta, or in other words Vedānta means