Baladeva Vidyabhushana
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Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana | |
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| Personal life | |
| Resting place | Radha-Shyamsundar Temple, Vrindavan, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
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| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Denomination | Vaishnavism |
| Philosophy | Achintya Bheda Abheda |
| Lineage | Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya |
| Sect | Gaudiya Vaishnavism |
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| Guru |
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| Based in | Vrindavan, India |
Influenced
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Baladeva Vidyabhushana (
Early Life
Despite being renowned all over the world as the Gaudiya Vedanta Acharya, the scarcity of available authentic bio data has led misinformed authors to spread incorrect information about his life incidents. Early tradition and manuscripts point out that he was born in a village bordering Bengal in Utkala, or the present day Odisha. So Although there is a lack of concrete evidence regarding the time of his birth but there is a consensus among most historians that he was born in an agriculturist Khandayat[2] family having Mandal as their surname,[1][3][4] in Baleshvara village[4] near Remuna, Balasore where the famous temple of Khirachora Gopinatha is located.[3][5][6][7][8][9]
Based on mere assumptions, some have recklessly put forth 1768 as the year of his disappearance. While his birth date is unknown, a document preserved at the Jaipur Archives dated the fourteenth day of the Bhadra month of
Life as a disciple
According to oral tradition, at an early age he received a thorough education in grammar, poetry, rhetoric and logic, and went on a pilgrimage to various place in India. He finally reached Nabadwip, the foremost centre for Vaishnavism in the subcontinent. There, he disciple of the famed scholar and saint Visvanatha Chakravarti. Among several misconceptions about his early life is the idea that he accepted sannyasa in the Madhva-Sampradaya. However, there are no records of Vidyabhusana ever using a sannyasa title or being referred to by a sannyasa name in any of the multiple period documents related to him or the temples managed by him. Many of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's associates were sannyasis of various traditions and held names such as Puri, Bharati, and Sarasvati. There are no instances of any of his sannyasi followers giving up their sannyasa name, nor is this ethically acceptable in either the Gaudiya or Madhva traditions. According to Vidyabhusana's statement at the end of his Siddhanta-ratna, he had been a follower of the Madhva-sampradaya before becoming a follower of the philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Throughout, his tenure as a preacher he remained a fierce opponent of the Brahmins, he challenged their authority regarding the interpretation of the scriptures and championed the cause of Vaishnavism.[1]
Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Major works
When he visited Jagannatha
In a short time he became experienced in Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy. With his guru's permission and blessings, he moved to
His most important work is his commentary on the
Some claim that Baladeva received the title "Vidyabhusana" from the King or from the Ramanandis. However, the Karika-bhasya manuscript and his other earlier manuscripts are signed "Vidyabhusana." He may have received this title before joining the Gaudiyas, probably when he was a
Some misinformed individuals also claim that the Govinda-bhasya was written at Galta, to which there is not the slightest evidence and which makes no sense at all, as according to documentary evidence, even during Sawai Jai Singh II Vidyabhusana was the Mahant of the New Govinda-deva Temple in Vrindavan as well as of his own temple in Jaipur, and the idea that he left his duties in both places to sit down in a temple of another sampradaya to write a commentary is nothing but absurd.
The earliest documents that mention Baladeva Vidyabhusana belong to the 1740s; therefore, it is most unlikely that he had any participation in the Amer/Jaipur debates before the 1730s.
Other works include Siddhanta-ratnam (Govinda-bhasya-pithakam),[13] Prameya-ratnavali, Siddhanta-darpana, Kavya-kaustubha, Vyakarana-kaumudi, Pada-kaustubha, Isadi-upanisad bhasya, Gitabhusana-bhasya, Sri Visnunama-sahasra-nama-bhasya, Sanksepa-bhagavatamrta- tippani, Tattva-sandarbha-tika, Stava-mala-vibhusana-bhasya, Nataka-candrika-tika, Candraloka-tika, Sahitya-kaumudi, Srimad-Bhagavata-tika (Vaisnavanandini).
Commentary on Vedanta
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An important story attached to Sri Baladeva concerns his writing of the Vedanta commentary, his first known work. The Vaishnava sect known as
.The Ramanandis informed King Sawai Jai Singh II at
Impressed with the commentary, the Ramanandis expressed their desire to accept initiation from Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana. However, he declined their request by stating that among the four authorized sampradayas, the Sri sampradaya was highly respectable and the foremost adherent of Dasya-bhakti (devotion in servitorship).
In Vrindavan
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Returning from Jaipur to Vrindavana, Sri Baladeva presented the certificate of victory to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and narrated the events that had transpired. Cakravartipada bestowed his full blessings on Sri Baladeva. At this time, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana began to write a commentary on Srila Jiva Gosvami's Sat-sandarbha.
Sri Vijaya Govinda, residing at Gokulananda Mandira in Vrindavana, is said to have been worshiped by Baladeva Vidyabhushana personally. According to the opinion of some devotees, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana installed the large Deities Sri Radha-Syamasundara.
After the departure of Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana became the next acharya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya.
He had two well-known disciples, Sri Uddhava dasa and Sri Nanda Misra.
His samadhi is located on the back side of Sri-Sri-Radha-Shyamsundar Temple, Sevakunj, Vrindavan.
Complete works of Baladeva Vidyabhusana
- Vedānta-sūtra-Govinda-bhāṣya
- Brahma-sūtra-Kārikā-bhāṣya
- Bhagavad-gītā-bhāṣya - Gītā-bhūṣaṇa
- Īśopaniṣad-bhāṣya
- Commentary on Nine Upaniṣads
- Gopāla-tāpany-upaniṣad-bhāṣya
- Śrīmad-bhāgavata-bhāṣya - Vaiṣṇavānandinī
- Vedānta-syamantaka-ṭīkā
- Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-bhāṣya - Nāmārtha-sudhā
- Stava-mālā-bhāṣya
- Siddhānta-ratna
- Siddhānta-darpaṇa
- Vyākaraṇa-kaumudī
- Śabda-sudhā
- Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta-ṭīkā
- Laghu-siddhānta-kaustubha
- Tattva-dīpikā
- Tattva-sandarbha-ṭīkā
- Commentary on five other Sandarbhas
- Aiśvarya-kādambinī
- Kāvya-kaustubha
- Candrāloka-ṭīkā
- Chandaḥ-kaustubha-bhāṣya
- Nāṭaka-candrikā-ṭīkā
- Pada-kaustubha; (unpublished manuscript)
- Prameya-ratnāvalī
- Śyāmānanda-śataka-ṭīkā
- Sāhitya-kaumudī
See also
- Radha
- Krishna
- Brahma Sutras
- Govind Dev Ji Temple
- Govinda Bhashya
- Achintya Bheda Abheda
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
- Madhvacharya
- Jiva Goswami
- Vaishnavism
- Gaudiya Vaishnavism
References
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7102-049-2.
- ^ Prabhu, Gopal (2023-10-17). "Baladeva Vidyabhushana". Prabhupada Rays. Retrieved 2025-03-23.
- ^ a b "Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana – Biography | Gaudiya History". gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ^ a b "Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusan". www.scsmath.com. Retrieved 2025-03-20.
- ^ Orissa (India) (1966). Orissa District Gazetteers: Baleshwar. Superintendent, Orissa Government Press. p. 615.
- ^ "Baladeva Vidyabhusana | Gaudiya History". gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-04781-4.
- ^ Mahanidhi, Swami (1993). The Gaudiya Vaisnava Samadhis in Vrndavana. Mahanidhi Swami. p. 62.
- ISBN 978-81-230-3008-1.
- ^ Burton A.P. (2000), "Temples, Texts, and Taxes: the Bhagavad-gita and the Politico Religious Identity of the Caitanya Sect", PhD thesis, Australian National University, pg. 83
- ^ "Store | Jiva Institute of Vaishnava Studies". www.jiva.org. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Store | Jiva Institute of Vaishnava Studies". www.jiva.org. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ Amazon.com.