अणुभाष्य (महाप्रभु वल्लभाचार्य - शुद्धाद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र महाभाष्य प्रकाश टीका सहित)

INTRODUCTION.
S'rī Vallabhacharya And His Aṇu-Bhāshya.
S'rīmad Vallabhacharya, the author of the 'Aṇu Bhashya', was born on
the 11th day of the dark half of Chaitra, 1535 Samvat, (1479. A. D.), in the
forest of Champa near Raipur. His father was Lakshmaṇa Bhatta, and
Yallammagaru was his mother. He was a Telagu Brahmin studying the
Taitirīya S'ākhā of the Black Yajur-Veda. Vallabha's birth is shrouded in the
mysteries of the devotional beliefs of his followers, but one thing is certain that
his followers believed that he was commissioned by God to inaugurate a great
religious revival in India. From the writings of Vallabha which are available
now, we can say that this belief was shared by himself also. It is not an
uncommon phenomenon in India. Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Chaitanya,
and several other great teachers did believe in their special messages to the
world. Vallabha's ancestors were Deekshitas, and were devoted to Krishna in
the form of Gopāla. The Swarūpa of Madana-Mohanji in the Seventh Pītha
is the one which came to him from his Sixth ancestor Yajna Narayana Bhatta.
It is possible that Vallabha's father Lakshmaṇa Bhatta and his ancestors were
the Upāsakas of Gopāla according to the cult of Vishṇuswami. The early
years of Vallabha were passed by him with his father at Benares, where he is
said to have mastered all the Vedas, Six Dars'anas, and all schools of Āstika
and Nāstika thinkers. He studied the S'aiva and Vaishṇava Āgamas. When
Vallabha was comparatively young, his father died. Vallabha wanted to study
the Vaishṇava systems of Madhva, Ramanuja, Nimbarka and others, and
seeing that they were not prevalent there, in order to have direct knowledge,
he is said to have proceeded to the South. Vallabha's desire to go to the south
of India was very natural. During that time there was the powerful Hindu
kingdom of Vijaya-Nagar or Vidya-Nagar, over which ruled the mighty
monarch Krishṇadeva-Raya, himself a great Vaishṇava. During his time, it
seems a convention was held of the representatives of all the existing Sampra-
dāyas. The session seems to have been going on when Vallabha visited Vijaya-
Nagar. The main dispute seems to have been between Vyāsa Tīrtha, the
Mādhva, and some representative of Mayavadins. It seems also clear that
the Dwaita philosophy of the Mādhvas could not hold its own against the
attacks of S'ānkaras. At this juncture Vallabha seems to have baffled all by
his great learning and powerful arguments. We see no reason to doubt this
fact. The author of a recently discovered work Vyāsa-Yoga-Charitam, from
Vyāsa Raya Matha, does chronicle the fact that Vallabhacharya was honoured
by the king Krishṇadeva Raya, under the presidentship of the then famous
Mādhva Swami Vyasa Tīrtha. Vallabha's position was peculiar. He accepted
Adwaita pure and simple without the interference of the Māyāvāda of S'ankara;
hence all the attacks advanced by Mādhvas and others against Advaita lost
their force as against him. His acceptance of 'शुद्धाद्वैत' disarmed the opposi-
tion of both Vaishṇavas and S'ānkaras. The position taken up by Vallabha