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CHAPTER XXXI
THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALLABHA
Vallabha's Interpretation of the Brahma-sūtra. Most systems of Vedānta are based upon an inquiry regarding the ultimate purport of the instruction of the text of the Upanişads which form the final part of the Vedas. The science of mīmāmsā is devoted to the enquiry into the nature of Vedic texts, on the presumption that all Vedic texts have to be interpreted as enjoining people to perform certain courses of action or to refrain from doing others; it also presumes that obedience to these injunctions produces dharma and disobedience adharma. Even the study of the Vedas has to be done in obedience to the injunction that Vedas must be studied, or that the teacher should instruct in the Vedas or that one should accept a teacher for initiating him to the holy thread who will teach him the Vedas in detail. All interpreters of Mimāmsā and Vedānta agree on the point that the study of the Vedas implies the understanding of the meaning by the student, though there are divergences of opinion as to the exact nature of injunction and the exact manner in which such an implication follows. If the Brahmacārin has to study the Vedas and understand their meaning from the instruction of the teacher at his house, it may generally be argued that there is no scope for a further discussion regarding the texts of the Upanişads; and if this is admitted, the whole of the Brahma-sūtra, whose purpose is to enter into such a discussion, becomes meaningless. It may be argued that the Upanişad texts are pregnant with mystic lore which cannot be unravelled by a comprehension of the textual meaning of words. But, if this mystic lore cannot be unravelled by the textual meaning of the word, it is not reasonable to suppose that one can comprehend the deep and mystic truths which they profess to instruct by mere intellectual discussions. The Upanisads themselves say that one can comprehend the true meaning of the Upanişads through tapas and the grace of God'.
a-laukiko hi vedărtho na yuktyā pratipadyate tapasā veda-yuktyā tu prasādāt paramātmanah.
Vallabha's Bhāsya on Brahma-sūtra
(Chowkhamba edition, p. 13).
