Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s Introduction to Bhagavad-gītā

There are many commentaries on the Gītā-śāstra. All the principal ācāryas of India have written commentaries on the Śruti, the Brahma-sūtra, and the Gītā. The Vaiṣṇava ācāryas of the four sampradāyas have also composed commentaries on all these texts.

Although the sampradāya of devotees who worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanyadeva – known as the Gauḍīyas – identify as descending in disciplic succession from Śrīmad Ānanda Tīrtha Madhva Muni, still, the Gauḍīyas, being the worshippers of Śrī Caitanyadeva, have greater affection for the commentaries approved by the associates of Gaura. Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa was known within the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community by the name ‘Śrī Govinda Dāsa.’ He is the vedāntācārya of the Gauḍīyas. His adherence to the Vedāntika conclusions and logic approved by Śrī Madhva is unparalleled. The commentator was born near Remuṇā, in a village within the Baleshwar district of Uṭkala (Orissa), on the border of Gauḍa-deśa.

The commentator first appeared among the Khaṇḍāita community – a class of farmers born in a seminal vaiśya dynasty. Later, accepting sāvitri initiation, he became renowned as a virtuous Vaiṣṇava brāhmaṇa, possessing good conduct.

The commentator acquired skill in the study of the bhakti-śāstras under Śrī Pītāmbara Dāsa, the crest-jewel amongst renunciates. After, he received the mercy of Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Dāsa, an initiated Vaiṣṇava born in a seminal brāhmaṇa family from Kānyakubja. Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara was the author of the Vedānta-syamantaka, the grandson of Śrī Rasikānanda Murāri, and a disciple of Nayanānanda Deva Gosvāmī, the servant of that same Rasikānanda. Rasikānanda Murāri was the fourth predecessor of the commentator in the pañcarātrika guru-paramparā. Śrī Rasikānanda Murāri was a disciple of Śrī Śyāmānanda. Śrī Śyāmānanda’s guru, Śrī Hṛdaya Caitanya, was a disciple of Śrī Gaurīdāsa Paṇḍita, who was a disciple of Śrī Nityānanda. Furthermore, Śrī Śyāmānanda later received the mercy of Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī. In Śrī Jīva’s paramparā, his guru was Śrī Rūpa, whose own guru was Śrī Sanātana. Śrī Sanātana was a companion of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanyadeva.

It is not that the commentator only wrote a commentary on the Gītā. In the Śaka year 1586 (1664 CE), he composed a commentary on the Stavāvalī by Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. By composing the Govinda-bhāṣya, a commentary on the Brahma-sūtra, the commentator became an object of great respect among the learned community. He also composed his own commentary on the Govinda-bhāṣya. Besides these, he wrote work entitled Bhāṣya-pīṭhaka. This work has become well known under the name Siddhānta-ratna. The commentator also composed a commentary on the Siddhānta-ratna. Although all of his commentaries on the ten Upaniṣads have not been found, his commentary on the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad has appeared in several Vaiṣṇava publications and adorned the divine hands of the Vaiṣṇavas. The works titled Siddhānta-darpaṇa, Prameya-ratnāvalī, Kāvya-kaustubha, Kaumudī, Sāhitya-kaumudī, and Vyākaraṇa-kaumudī all bear testimony to his scholarly excellence. The commentator left behind numerous explanatory works, such as the Gopāla-tāpanī-bhāṣya, Kṛṣṇānandinī-ṭīkā, Chanda-kaustubha-bhāṣya, and Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta-ṭīkā, among others. His commentary on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has not come into our hands. His commentary on the Tattva-sandarbha also bears witness to his extraordinary learning and brilliance. He also composed commentaries on Candraloka, the work on poetics by Jayadeva, and on Nāṭaka–Candrikā, written by Śrī Rūpa.

Just as the prākṛta-sahajiyā sect once accumulated heaps of offences at the feet of Ācārya Śrīpāda Jīva by falsely claiming to be ‘followers of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī,’ so too, in more recent times, certain sahajiyās among the jāti-gosvāmī community, proud of being followers of Cakravartī Ṭhākura, have likewise degraded themselves by uttering various deluded and disrespectful words toward the commentator, under the influence of their materialistic sahajiyā tendencies. Those deluded persons, born in seminal pseudo-brāhmaṇa families of, conceal the injunction of the smṛti:

yo’nadhītya dvijo vedam anyatra kurute śramam
sa jīvan eva śūdratvam āśu gacchati sāyaham

A twice-born who, without studying the Vedas, engages in other pursuits, quickly becomes a śūdra even while still living.

Yet they try to establish themselves, designating themselves as so-called brāhmaṇas. They are the same ones who assert that it is impossible for a Vaiṣṇava ācārya to be born in a non-brāhmaṇa family, or to assume titles such as Vidyābhūṣaṇa, or to study the śruti and other śāstras. Their poverty of their knowledge of tradition is extremely deplorable. It was Vidyābhūṣaṇa Mahāśaya himself who refuted this fallacious reasoning. From the hereditary brāhmaṇas arose the seminal brāhmaṇa dynasties, who accepted the smārta-dharma as instituted by Manu and other sages. The Gītā-śāstra has opposed all such opinions and has upheld the standpoint based on vṛtti–varṇa (classification according to one’s occupation and conduct).

From various passages of the Mahābhārata, as well as in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the works of the Gosvāmīs, the Āgama Prāmāṇya, the Nārada Pañcarātra, and other Pañcarātrika literature, and the Rāmārcana-candrikā, as well as paddhati-granthas (texts on Deity worship), it is seen that the Bengali smārta community, by neglecting discussion of these works, had become a hindrance to the Vedic path. Śrī Ṭhākura Narottama, Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Haridāsa Ṭhākura, and other ācāryas have outwardly shattered the elephant-like arrogance of the logicians who adhere to the path of argumentation based on perceptible, material reasoning. The śrauta-panthā (the path based on revealed scripture) is but another name for the path of bhakti. The path of dry logic has arisen from the desires of atheistic sects who are averse to the Lord. A reader of the Gītā who engages in all these discussions can become a traveller on the easy and direct path to the Supreme Truth.

Śrī Uddhava Dāsa (also known as Uddhara Dāsa or Uddhava Dāsa), who was a follower of the commentator, together with Madhusūdana and Śrī Jagannātha Dāsa, propagated the religion of pure bhakti as travellers on the paramahaṁsa path. That is the object of highest reverence for the Gauḍīyas.

Śrī Siddhānta Sarasvatī

(Translated into English by Swami Bhaktivijñāna Giri)