षोडश ग्रन्थाः (महाप्रभु वल्लभाचार्य - पुष्टिमार्ग सिद्धान्त एवं सान्वय हिन्दी व्याख्या)

INTRODUCTION.
find that Vallabha's descendants came to be looked upon as objects of deep venera-
tion like Krishna. So far we see nothing wrong. The vedic injunction यस्य देवे
परा भक्तिः यथा देवे तथा गुरौ । तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः' lays down the correct principle,
that one who has भक्ति towards the teacher as he has towards God, to such a great
soul these meanings (teachings) become visible. To entertain the same भक्ति towards
आचार्य as they do to God is necessary for the right understanding of his teachings.
From this it would be absurd to infer that the dedication as contemplated to God
is to be done to Acharya. On this point there is absolutely no room for doubt.
Thus we come to the conclusion that the dedication contemplated in the Sampradaya
has reference to Purushottama-Krishna-alone, and this can be done through
Vallabhacharya alone, who is considered present (in spirit) at the initiation. His
descendants are all गुरुद्वार. Thus ब्रह्मसंबन्ध referred to in the present work is to take
a vow, in the presence of Acharya or his descendant, that whatever is comprised
in अहं and मम of one is dedicated to God Krishna, and that he is his दास.
Having thus seen clearly that the ब्रह्मसंबन्ध spoken of here in the present
work has reference to Purushottama-Krishna the Highest Divinity, and not to
Acharya or his descendants representing him, let us now understand what is
the purport of the गद्यार्थ—the vow by which the ब्रह्मसंबन्ध is supposed to take
place with God in the presence of the Acharya or his representative. According
to this ग्रन्थ, this was the vow which was communicated to S'rî Vallabha-
charya by Krishna Himself on the mid-night of the bright-half of the month
of S'râvana, and Damodardasa was the first Sevaka initiated. As regards the
verses describing the effect of this initiation in the present work, there is some
difference of opinion among the commentators as to whether these verses are
those ones spoken by Krishna to Acharya, or whether they are composed by
Acharya incorporating the sense of every letter uttered by Him. Whichever view
we take it does not much matter. We are concerned with the sense expressed in
these verses and not to the authorship of the same, because in either case the
authoritativeness of them is the same.
Vallabhacharya's activities were many-fold. His ancestors and he himself
were Deekshitas. They daily performed Agnihotra. In his Subodhini he calls
himself श्रीवल्लभदीक्षित. Kumārila's Purva Mimansa-view was not accepted by him.
In order to bring out the true significance as he understood it to be, he wrote
out a भाष्य on the Sutras of Jaimini. Hence we find his name कर्ममार्गप्रवर्तक.
Similarly, to preach the true significance of ब्रह्मवाद he wrote out a भाष्य on the
Sūtras of Badarayana. To explain भक्तिशास्त्र correctly, he wrote his Subodhini on
S'rimad Bhagavata. But after doing all this, he saw that times were not suitable.
People had not the requisite capacity to study all this.
He seems to have thought over this question for a long time. 'भगवच्छास्त्रमाज्ञाय
विचार्य च पुनः पुनः । यदुक्तं हरिणा पश्चात् संदेहविनिवृत्तये । एकं शास्त्रं देवकीपुत्रगीतमेको देवो देवकी-
पुत्र एव । मंत्रोप्येकस्तस्य नामानि यानि कर्माप्येकं तस्य देवस्य सेवा'. Thus it appears that after
establishing the कर्ममार्ग and ब्रह्मवाद, he wanted to find out a path by which all
can approach God. The Supreme Divinity was described in the Upanishads as
आनन्दमय, वैश्वानर, दहर, सर्वकाम, सर्वगन्ध, अस्थूलमणणु, नेति, नेति. Out of these various
aspects, which aspect should be selected as to be agreeable to all? The आनन्द-
मय—पुरुषोत्तम—is the best aspect. There are two views of सृष्टि, viz. illusory
and real. There is no clear reference to the illusory character of the सृष्टि, in
Upanishads, but on the contrary सृष्टि is described as रमण or लीला in passages