Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa disappearance day

Early life

The exact time and place of Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s birth are unknown. From the little information that we do have about his life, we can conjecture that he was born in the 17th century of the modern era. Though we do not know the name of the exact village where he took birth, it was likely in the Balesore district of Orissa, somewhere near Remuna. From the date given in his commentary on Rūpa Gosvāmī's Stava-mālā, it is clear that Baladeva was still living after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Baladeva studied in one of the villages of the Chilka Lake area in southern Orissa. There he learned grammar, poetics and logic, achieving expertise in all these subjects. He began his studies of Vedānta there, but in order to understand the commentaries in greater depth, he went to Mysore. Later, he met Rādhā-Dāmodara Gosvāmī, a scholar from Kanauj, under whose direction he studied Jīva Gosvāmī’s Ṣaṭ-sandarbha in great detail. When he was convinced of the supremacy of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava philosophy, he took initiation from Rādhā-Dāmodara Gosvāmī.

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa writes the Govinda-bhāṣya

To Srila Baladev Vidyabhushan who presented so nicely the Govinda-bhāṣya commentary on Vedānta philosophy. [Dedication of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is]

Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, Gosvāmīs, they did not write any comment on the Vedānta-sūtra because they accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. So why they should write again? But still, when there was such question raised in Jaipur that the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava has no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, at that time, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, he wrote Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra. [Śrīla Prabhupāda class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.25, Vṛndāvana, November 5, 1972]

When Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was old ansd hampered in his ability to travel, the acharyas of the Rāmanujya sampradāya in the Galta village of Jaipur attempted to convert the King of Jaipur to their school by denying that the Gauḍīya school had any historical basis. They accused the Gauḍīyas of not having a tie to any one of the four Vaiṣṇava disciplic successions. They advised the King of Jaipur to take initiation from someone in the Rāmanujya line. The King was confused by their arguments and asked Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, who was the most prominent acharya of the Gauḍīya school at that time, to come to Jaipur and answer the questions posed by the Rāmanujya group. Due to his advanced age, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was unable to go, but instead he sent his dear student, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, to defend the line. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was the śikṣā guru [instructing spiritual master] of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa. One of the arguments of the Rāmanujyas was that the Gauḍīya school had no commentary of its own on the Vedanta. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa asked the accusers for some time - seven days according to some, three months according to others - to write a Gauḍīya commentary on Vedānta-sūtra. He was given the time and then he went to the Govinda temple and prayed to his guru and to the Lord to give him the power to write such a commentary. Govindaji’s garland fell from around his neck and the pujaris placed it on Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa's chest. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa took this as a sign that the Lord had given him authorization. With the Lord’s blessings, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa undertook the writing of comments to the 500 sūtras of the Vedānta-sūtra. He completed the task in the limited time given, without neglecting the subtle aspects of the divine aesthetics revealed in the pure devotional line of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava thought. When he went to Galta, the scholars of the other sampradāyas were astonished by the quality of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s commentary. As Govindaji himself had ordered its writing, the commentary became known as the Govinda-bhāṣya. It was after completing this commentary that Baladeva received the Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s title. [Excerpt from Śrī Caitanya: His Life and Associates, Swami B.B. Tirtha, Mandala Publishing]

Lessons from the life of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa

Whatever the situation may be, we give ourselves to Krsna in a mood of surrender. Praying and expecting for the Lord’s mercy to descend, is a sign of elevated consciousness. That leaves us with a reasonable attitude that could hold throughout one’s life.