Baladeva Vidyabhusana

Vedanta-syamantaka Baladeva Vidyabhusana

Vedanta-syamantaka is a concise but profound and systematic exposition of Gaudiya Vedanta, written by Radha-Damodara Gosvami, whose foremost disciple was Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Following a discussion on epistemology, each one of the remaining chapters deals with one of five major philosophical topics: isvara (the Supreme Lord), jiva (the living entity), prakrti (material nature), kala (eternal time) and karma (material activity). In defining these topics, the author provides ample quotations from various scriptures, as well as sound arguments that corroborate the Gaudiya Vaisnava conclusions. The original text is further clarified by Vidyabhusana's gloss, which is found only in a few rare manuscripts and is being published here for the first time. The introduction addresses the old controversy regarding the authorship of this book, the causes of the confusion, and the evidence that Sri Radha-Damodara is the real author. This critical edition has been prepared by consulting a total of 32 different manuscripts collected from all over India, including all published editions, and in this way it was possible to rid the text of multiple wrong readings seen in the previous printed editions. This edition includes:1. The original Sanskrit text in Devanagari.2. The original Sanskrit gloss by Baladeva Vidyabhusana.3. Alternative readings and notes from multiple manuscripts.4. An English translation of the original text and gloss.5. Extensive footnotes glossing technical terms and elucidating some of the arguments. Contents: First Chapter - Ascertaining the Evidences Second Chapter - Ascertaining the Nature of the Supreme Lord Third Chapter - Defining the Nature of the Individual Soul Fourth Chapter - Defining the Nature of Prak?ti Fifth Chapter - Defining the Nature of TimeSixth Chapter - Ascertaining the Nature of Karma