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XXXI] Vitthala's Interpretation of Vallabha's Ideas 363
Vitthala's Interpretation of Vallabha's Ideas.
Vitthala, the son of Vallabha, wrote an important treatise called Vidvanmaṇḍana upon which there is a commentary, the Suvarnasutra, by Purusottama. The central ideas of this work may now be detailed.
There are many Upanisadic texts which declare that Brahman is without any determinate qualities (nirviseṣa) and there are others which say that He is associated with determinate qualities, i.e., He is saviseṣa. The upholders of the former view say that the gunas or dharmas which are attributed by the other party must be admitted by them as having a basis of existence somewhere. This basis must be devoid of qualities, and this qualityless being cannot be repudiated by texts which declare the Brahman to be endowed with qualities; for the latter can only be possible on the assumption of the former, or in other words the former is the upajivya of the latter. It may, however, be argued that the śruti texts which declare that the Brahman is qualityless do so by denying the qualities; the qualities then may be regarded as primary, as the ascertainment of the qualityless is only possible through the denial of the qualities. The reply is that, since the śruti texts emphasize the qualityless, the attempt to apprehend the qualityless through qualities implies contradiction; such a contradiction would imply the negation of both quality and qualityless and lead us to nihilism (śūnya-vāda). If, again, it is argued that the denial of qualities refers only to ordinary mundane qualities and not to those qualities which are approved by the Vedas, then there is also a pertinent objection; for the śruti texts definitely declare that the Brahman is absolutely unspeakable, indefinable. But it may further be argued that, if Brahman be regarded as the seat of certain qualities which are denied of it, then also such denial would be temporarily qualified and not maintained absolutely. A jug is black before being burnt and, when it is burnt, it is no longer black, but brown. The reply proposed is that the qualities are affirmed of Brahman as conditioned and denied of Brahman as unconditioned. When one's heart becomes pure by the worship of the Brahman as conditioned he understands the nature of Brahman as unconditioned. It is for the purpose of declaring the nature of such a Brahman that the texts declare Him to be qualityless: they declare Him to be endowed
