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

INTRODUCTION. II
We invite the scholars of the सम्प्रदाय as well as others to study these works
with devotion, and with a view to approach the Presence of God, for which
they have been intended. The generality of people go in the wrong direction
because पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत् स्वयंभूः, तस्मात् पराङ् पश्यति नान्तरात्मन्, and because मनुष्याणां
सहस्रेषु कश्चियतति सिद्धये. It is only in this भारतवर्ष that people were engrossed so
much in religion, for which men like Emerson, Carlyle, Max Muller and many
others have lavished praises over it; but here also काल has been rapidly
doing its work, and the contact with materialism and आसुरत्व of the West
has hastened this change. We have therefore to be very careful, and in all our
religious studies we should never miss the goal viz. the Presence of God.
We are thankful to many Western Oriental Scholars for the vast amount of
labour devoted by them to the study of Sanskrit literature, Vedic and modern.
They have approached the subject also very sympathetically, but partly on
account of their being strangers unacquainted with our manners and
customs with their roots buried in the hoary past, partly on account of
partiality for their own Christian religion, partly due to the Doctrine of
Evolution which looks upon ancient things in quite a different light,
partly on account of want of श्रद्धा, and finally on account of a difference
in the idea of civilisation,—the west being generally engrossed in finding
fresh means of material comforts and gratification of the senses, and not
caring for the vision of God, Who lies deeply buried in the heart,—we have to be
very cautious in accepting their premises and their conclusions. Even a sympa-
thetic man like Prof. Max Muller, after his lifelong study of Sanskrit literature
opined that writing was unknown to Vedic ऋषिस. Again वेद means knowledge
from विद् to know and ऋषि means a seer, from दृश् to see. Do they implicitly
believe that वेद contains true knowledge and that ऋषिस were Seers? If not, it can
well be questioned whether the true meaning underlying these writings will
ever be revealed to them. They only see the worship of the Sun and the Moon
and elements such as Fire, Water etc. in these writings, and they imagine terror
to be the root cause of this worship. We are inclined to ask them as to how
many Saints and Sages of भारतवर्ष they believe to have got a vision of God, from
Vedic Revelation up to the modern times.
One writer after another has written about श्रीवल्लभाचार्य and his System, and
has condemned outright the sect of Maharajas. But both श्रीवल्लभाचार्य and
श्रीविठ्ठलेश्वर were so holy and learned that they were worshipped, as gods upon
the Earth. At that very time another divine personage श्रीकृष्णचैतन्य was
similarly worshipped in Bengal. They were all called महाप्रभुs, because they
had साक्षात्कार of God, their mind was in tune with the Infinite and
they were able to lead their followers into the Presence of God.
Millions of men in Gujarat, Kathiawar, Sind, Rajputana, Muttra and Madras,
including several princes, are followers of श्रीवल्लभाचार्य, and millions in Bengal and
elsewhere are followers of श्रीकृष्णचैतन्य. Many of the descendents of श्रीवल्लभाचार्य
have been great devotees and inspired authors, who have kept the torch of
Hinduism burning for these four dark centuries. The latest of them पंडित गट्टूलाल—
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