Bhakti Schools of Vedānta’, of which this volume is a part, is a work intended to bring to the notice of the general reader that it is not correct to equate Vedānta exclusively with Advaita Vedānta, associated with Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. There are several other Ācāryas who have expounded the Vedānta in quite a different way and whose status as teachers of Vedānta requires recognition. The personages treated in the above book are Sri Rāmānuja, Śrī Nimbārka, Śrī Vallabha, Śrī Madhva and Śrī Caitanya. Besides their theo-philosophies, detailed accounts of their lives are given. For it is the support of their lives that gives more authority to their teachings than the philosophical writings of mere armchair philosophers. The frame-work of their lives is mainly historical, but most of the miraculous and extraordinary incidents mentioned in them may largely be projections of the pious imaginations of their followers. These too are to be respectfully received and not pooh-poohed as mere cock and bull stories. It is the way of the Indian mind to convey the idea that these Ācāryas are endowed with extraordinary powers. But for this, their teachings could not have survived through so many centuries influencing the lives of innumerable generations of men.

Srimad Bhagavad Gita is now widely recognised as a scriptural text of worldwide importance. Sri Ramanuja is one of the noted commentators on the Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana and the Bhagavad Gita. This has brought him recognition as one of the greatest exponents of Vedanta from the Vaishnava point of view. Swami Adidevananda, one of the distinguished scholarly monks of the Ramakrishna Order who retained his inherent Sri Vaishnava heritage, has translated the original verses and Sri Ramanuja’s commentary into English. This book is of special importance because it is the only English translation now available with the original Sanskrit commentary as well. The book opens with meditation on the Gita followed by the Gitartha-sangraha of Sri Yamunacharya with English translation. Swami Tapasyananda, who was a scholarly monk with deep devotional temperament and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, has written a scholarly introduction to this work.

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Vedanta is generally identified with the exposition of the system by Sri Sankaracharya and the followers of his tradition. This book attempts to treat in a brief compass the life and teachings of five other Vedantic Acharyas who differed from Sankara and interpreted Vedanta as essentially a system having God with infinite auspicious attributes whose grace alone can give salvation to the souls caught in the cycle of births and deaths. These Acharyas are in no way less deserving in recognition than Sri Sankara as Acharyas of Vedanta, as they all base their teachings on the three foundational texts of the system—the Upanishads, the Vedanta Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. With Bhakti as the predominant feature, their systems are aptly categorised as the Bhakti schools of Vedanta. The author of this book, Swami Tapasyananda, was a Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order and a great scholar-monk with vast erudition and deep thinking. He has also given a scholarly introduction to the book reconciling the differences and contradictions of different schools of Vedanta in the light of the experiences and expositions of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.