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

according to the opinion of the followers of Śaṅkarācārya's purport as explained by
him in Śārīraka-bhāṣya. Besides the Śārīraka-bhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya there are
many other atheistic schools preaching Vedānta on the basis of godlessness.
One of the prominent followers of Śaṅkarācārya, namely Sadānanda Yogīndra,
has compiled his book known as Vedānta-sāra, in which he writes to prove that the
to understand both the upaniṣads and the Vedānta-sūtra, Śaṅkarācārya's Śārīraka-
bhāṣya is the only means. This is the claim of monopoly by the māyāvāda school.
Actually Vedānta-sūtra has many commentaries and all those commentaries are not
on the basic principal of monism or impersonalism.
All the prominent ācāryas of the different vaiṣṇava-sampradāyas have complied
commentaries on Vedānta-sūtra, but they do not follow the principles of the
Śaṅkarite 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 Vedānta commentaries presented by
the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, known as the śuddhādvaita, viśiṣṭādvaita and dvaitādvaita, as
well as the inconceivably-one-and-different philosophy of Lord Caitanya, known
as acintyābhedābheda-tattva. According to them the monistic commentary on
Vedānta-sūtra is final, Lord Kṛṣṇa has a material body, and the followers of the
philosophy of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness are not transcendentalists.
Vedānta means the last word in the matter of pursuing knowledge. Everyone is
pursuing some sort of knowledge. There are universities, institutions, and many
educational establisments pursuing knowledge, but Vedānta means the last word in
the pursuit of knowledge. This last word in the pursuit of knowledge is explained
in the Bhagavad-gītā by Lord Kṛṣṇa. The purpose of Vedic knowledge is to
understand Kṛṣṇa. The exact words in the 15th Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā are
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. "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 Vedānta-sūtra, and He knows what is Vedānta.."
These words are a very significant explanation of Vedānta-sūtra by Kṛṣṇa
himself. In another place also He has referred to the Vedānta-sūtra by saying, "By
the course of Brahma-sūtra one can actually understand what is the philosophy of
Bhagavad-gītā." Bhagavad-gītā and Vedānta-sūtra are very intimately interrelated.
To understand Vedānta-sūtra rightly is to understand Bhagavad-gītā rightly.
The word sūtra means "summarized code". In the Skanda and Vāyu Purāṇas the
word sūtra 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 Vedānta-sūtra by different ācāryas.
This Śārīraka-bhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya is also known as Vedānta-siddhānta. The
summary of non-dualism philosophy expounded by Śaṅkarācārya 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 Śaṅkara's
philosophy this cosmic manifestation actually is not. Māyā means “What is not."
Ma means "not" and ya means "this". In other words the phenomenal