Sri Caitanya-caritamrta: Adi-lila
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 7
Adi7.109
TEXT 109
gauna-vrttye yeba bhasya karila acarya
tahara sravane nasa haya sarva karya
SYNONYMS
gauna-vrttye—by indirect meanings; yeba—which; bhasya—commentary; karila—prepared; acarya—Sankaracarya; tahara—its; sravane—hearing; nasa—destruction; haya—becomes; sarva—all; karya—business.
TRANSLATION
"Sripada Sankaracarya has described all the Vedic literatures in terms of indirect meanings. One who hears such explanations is ruined.
Adi7.110
TEXT 110
tanhara nahika dosa, isvara-ajna pana
gaunartha karila mukhya artha acchadiya
SYNONYMS
tanhara—of Sri Sankaracarya; nahika—there is none; dosa—fault; isvara—the Supreme Lord; ajna—order; pana—receiving; gauna-artha—indirect meaning; karila—make; mukhya—direct; artha—meaning; acchadiya—covering.
TRANSLATION
"Sankaracarya is not at fault, for he has thus covered the real purpose of the Vedas under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
PURPORT
The Vedic literature is to be considered a source of real knowledge, but if one does not take it as it is, one will be misled. For example, the Bhagavad-gita is an important book of Vedic literature that has been taught for many years, but because it was commented upon by unscrupulous rascals, people derived no benefit from it, and no one came to the conclusion of Krsna consciousness. Since the purpose of the Bhagavad-gita is now being presented as it is, however, within four or five short years thousands of people all over the world have become Krsna conscious. That is the difference between direct and indirect explanations of the Vedic literature. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, mukhya-vrttye sei artha parama mahattva: “To teach the Vedic literature according to its direct meaning, without false commentary, is glorious.” Unfortunately, Sri Sankaracarya, by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, compromised between atheism and theism in order to cheat the atheists and bring them to theism, and to do so he gave up the direct method of Vedic knowledge and tried to present a meaning which is indirect. It is with this purpose that he wrote his Sariraka-bhasya commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.
One should not, therefore, attribute very much importance to the Sariraka-bhasya. In order to understand Vedanta philosophy, one must study Srimad-Bhagavatam, which begins with the words om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, janmady asya yato ’nvayad itaratas carthesv abhijnah sva-rat: “I offer my obeisances unto Lord Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, who is the Supreme All-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is fully independent.” (Bhag. 1.1.1) Srimad-Bhagavatam is the real commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. Unfortunately, if one is attracted to Sri Sankaracarya’s commentary, Sariraka-bhasya, his spiritual life is doomed.
One may argue that since Sankaracarya is an incarnation of Lord Siva, how is it that he cheated people in this way? The answer is that he did so on the order of his master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the Padma Purana in the words of Lord Siva himself:
mayavadam asac chastram
pracchannam bauddham ucyate
mayaiva kalpitam devi
kalau brahmana-rupina
brahmanas caparam rupam
nirgunam vaksyate maya
sarva-svam jagato’py asya
mohanartham kalau yuge
vedante tu maha-sastre
mayavadam avaidikam
mayaiva vaksyate devi
jagatam nasa-karanat
“The Mayavada philosophy,” Lord Siva informed his wife Parvati, “is impious [asac chastra]. It is covered Buddhism. My dear Parvati, in the form of a brahmana in the Kali-yuga I teach this imagined Mayavada philosophy. In order to cheat the atheists, I describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be without form and without qualities. Similarly, in explaining Vedanta I describe the same Mayavada philosophy in order to mislead the entire population toward atheism by denying the personal form of the Lord.” In the Siva Purana the Supreme Personality of Godhead told Lord Siva:
dvaparadau yuge bhutva
kalaya manusadisu
svagamaih kalpitais tvam ca
janan mad-vimukhan kuru
“In the Kali-yuga, mislead the people in general by propounding imaginary meanings for the Vedas to bewilder them.” These are the descriptions of the Puranas.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments that mukhya-vrtti (“the direct meaning”) is abhidha-vrtti, or the meaning that one can understand immediately from the statements of dictionaries, whereas gauna-vrtti (“the indirect meaning”) is a meaning that one imagines without consulting the dictionary. For example, one politician has said that Kuruksetra refers to the body, but in the dictionary there is no such definition. Therefore this imaginary meaning is gauna-vrtti, whereas the direct meaning found in the dictionary is mukhya-vrtti or abhidha-vrtti. This is the distinction between the two. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends that one understand the Vedic literature in terms of abhidha-vrtti, and the gauna-vrtti He rejects. Sometimes, however, as a matter of necessity, the Vedic literature is described in terms of the laksana-vrtti or gauna-vrtti, but one should not accept such explanations as permanent truths.
The purpose of the discussions in the Upanisads and Vedanta-sutra is to philosophically establish the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. The impersonalists, however, in order to establish their philosophy, accept these discussions in terms of laksana-vrtti, or indirect meanings. Thus instead of being tattva-vada, or in search of the Absolute Truth, they become Mayavada, or illusioned by the material energy. When Sri Visnusvami, one of the four acaryas of the Vaisnava cult, presented his thesis on the subject matter of suddhadvaita-vada, immediately the Mayavadis took advantage of this philosophy and tried to establish their advaita-vada or kevaladvaita-vada. To defeat this kevaladvaita-vada, Sri Ramanujacarya presented his philosophy as visistadvaita-vada, and Sri Madhvacarya presented his philosophy of tattva-vada, both of which are stumbling blocks to the Mayavadis because they defeat their philosophy in scrupulous detail. Students of Vedic philosophy know very well how strongly Sri Ramanujacarya’s visistadvaita-vada and Sri Madhvacarya’s tattva-vada contest the impersonal Mayavada philosophy. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, however, accepted the direct meaning of the Vedanta philosophy and thus defeated the Mayavada philosophy immediately. He opined in this connection that anyone who follows the principles of the Sariraka-bhasya is doomed. This is confirmed in the Padma Purana, where Lord Siva tells Parvati:
srnu devi pravaksyami
tamasani yatha-kramam
yesam sravana-matrena
patityam jnaninam api
apartham sruti-vakyanam
darsayal loka-garhitam
karma-svarupa-tyajyatvam
atra ca pratipadyate
sarva-karma-paribhramsan
naiskarmyam tatra cocyate
paratma-jivayor aikyam
mayatra pratipadyate
“My dear wife, hear my explanations of how I have spread ignorance through Mayavada philosophy. Simply by hearing it, even an advanced scholar will fall down. In this philosophy, which is certainly very inauspicious for people in general, I have misrepresented the real meaning of the Vedas and recommended that one give up all activities in order to achieve freedom from karma. In this Mayavada philosophy I have described the jivatma and Paramatma to be one and the same.” How the Mayavada philosophy was condemned by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers is described in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Second Chapter, verses 94 through 99, where Svarupa-damodara Gosvami says that anyone who is eager to understand the Mayavada philosophy must be considered insane. This especially applies to a Vaisnava who reads the Sariraka-bhasya and considers himself to be one with God. The Mayavadi philosophers have presented their arguments in such attractive, flowery language that hearing Mayavada philosophy may sometimes change the mind of even a maha-bhagavata, or very advanced devotee. An actual Vaisnava cannot tolerate any philosophy that claims God and the living being to be one and the same.
Adi7.111
TEXT 111
’brahma’-sabde mukhya arthe kahe--’bhagavan’
cid-aisvarya-paripurna, anurdhva-samana
SYNONYMS
brahma—the Absolute Truth; sabde—by this word; mukhya—direct; arthe—meaning; kahe—says; bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; cit-aisvarya—spiritual opulence; paripurna—full of; anurdhva—unsurpassed by anyone; samana—not equaled by anyone.
TRANSLATION
"According to direct understanding, the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has all spiritual opulences. No one can be equal to or greater than Him.
PURPORT
This statement by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.11):
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan.” The Absolute Truth is ultimately understood as Bhagavan, partially understood as Paramatma and vaguely understood as the impersonal Brahman. Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is opulent in all excellence; no one can be equal to or greater than Him. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.7), where the Lord says, mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya: “O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no truth superior to Me.” There are many other verses which prove that the Absolute Truth in the ultimate sense is understood to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna.
Adi7.112
TEXT 112
tanhara vibhuti, deha,--saba cid-akara
cid-vibhuti acchadi’ tanre kahe ’nirakara’
SYNONYMS
tanhara—His (the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s); vibhuti—spiritual power; deha—body; saba—everything; cit-akara—spiritual form; cit-vibhuti—spiritual opulence; acchadi’-covering; tanre—Him; kahe—says; nirakara—without form.
TRANSLATION
"Everything about the Supreme Personality of Godhead is spiritual, including His body, opulence and paraphernalia. Mayavada philosophy, however, covering His spiritual opulence, advocates the theory of impersonalism.
PURPORT
It is stated in the Brahma-samhita, isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, has a spiritual body which is full of knowledge, eternity and bliss.” In this material world everyone’s body is just the opposite-temporary, full of ignorance and full of misery. Therefore when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sometimes described as nirakara, this is to indicate that He does not have a material body like us.
Mayavadi philosophers do not know how it is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is formless. The Supreme Lord does not have a form like ours but has a spiritual form. Not knowing this, Mayavadi philosophers simply advocate the onesided view that the Supreme Godhead, or Brahman, is formless (nirakara). In this connection Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura offers many quotes from the Vedic literature. If one accepts the real or direct meaning of these Vedic statements, one can understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has a spiritual body (sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah).
In the Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad (5.1.1) it is said, purnam adah purnam idam purnat purnam udacyate. This indicates that the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is spiritual, for even though He expands in many ways, He remains the same. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.8) the Lord says, aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate: “I am the origin of all. Everything emanates from Me.” Mayavadi philosophers materialistically think that if the Supreme Truth expands Himself in everything, He must lose His original form. Thus they think that there cannot be any form other than the expansive gigantic body of the Lord. But the Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad confirms, purnam idam purnat purnam udacyate: “Although He expands in many ways, He keeps His original personality. His original spiritual body remains as it is.” Similarly, elsewhere it is stated, vicitra-saktih purusah puranah: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person [purusa], has multifarious energies.” And the Svetasvatara Upanisad declares, sa vrksa-kalakrtibhih paro ’nyo yasmat prapancah parivartate ’yam dharmavaham papanudam bhagesam: “He is the origin of material creation, and it is due to Him only that everything changes. He is the protector of religion and annihilator of all sinful activities. He is the master of all opulences.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.6) Vedaham etam purusam mahantam aditya-varnam tamasah parastat: “Now I understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the greatest of the great. He is effulgent like the sun and is beyond this material world.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.8) Patim patinam paramam parastat: “He is the master of all masters, the superior of all superiors.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.7) Mahan prabhur vai purusah: “He is the supreme master and supreme person.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.12) Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: “We can understand His opulences in different ways.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8) These are all statements of the Svetasvatara Upanisad. Similarly, in the Rg Veda it is stated, tad visnoh paramam padam sada pasyanti surayah: “Visnu is the Supreme, and those who are actually learned think only of His lotus feet.” In the Prasna Upanisad it is said, sa iksam cakre: “He glanced over the material creation.” (6.3) In the Aitareya Upanisad it is said, sa aiksata-“He glanced over the material creation”-and sa imal lokan asrjata-“He created this entire material world.” (1.1.1-2)
Thus many verses can be quoted from the Upanisads and Vedas which prove that the Supreme Godhead is not impersonal. In the Katha Upanisad (2.2.13) it is also said, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman: “He is the supreme eternally conscious person who maintains all other living entities.” From all these Vedic references one can understand that the Absolute Truth is a person, although no one can equal or excel Him. Although there are many foolish Mayavadi philosophers who think that they are even greater than Krsna, Krsna is asamaurdhva: no one is equal to or above Him.
As stated in the Svetasvatara Upanisad (3.19), apani-pado javano grahita. This verse describes the Absolute Truth as having no legs or hands. Although this is an impersonal description, however, it does not mean that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has no form. He has a spiritual form that is distinct from the forms of matter. In this verse Caitanya Mahaprabhu clarifies this distinction.
Adi7.113
TEXT 113
cid-ananda--tenho, tanra sthana, parivara
tanre kahe--prakrta-sattvera vikara
SYNONYMS
cit-ananda—spiritual bliss; tenho—He is personally; tanra—His; sthana—abode; parivara—entourage; tanre—unto Him; kahe—someone says; prakrta—material; sattvera—goodness; vikara—transformation.
TRANSLATION
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is full of spiritual potencies. Therefore His body, name, fame and entourage are all spiritual. The Mayavadi philosopher, due to ignorance, says that these are all merely transformations of the material mode of goodness.
PURPORT
In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Personality of Godhead has classified His energies in two distinct divisions-namely, prakrta and aprakrta, or para-prakrti and apara-prakrti. In the Visnu Purana the same distinction is made. The Mayavadi philosophers cannot understand these two prakrtis, or natures-material and spiritual-but one who is actually intelligent can understand them. Considering the many varieties and activities in material nature, why should the Mayavadi philosophers deny the spiritual varieties of the spiritual world? The Bhagavatam (10.2.32) says:
ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah
The intelligence of those who think themselves liberated but have no information of the spiritual world is not yet clear. In this verse the term avisuddha-buddhayah refers to unclean intelligence. Due to unclean intelligence or a poor fund of knowledge, the Mayavadi philosophers cannot understand the distinction between material and spiritual varieties; therefore they cannot even think of spiritual varieties because they take it for granted that all variety is material.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, therefore, explains in this verse that Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the Absolute Truth, has a spiritual body that is distinct from material bodies, and thus His name, abode, entourage and qualities are all spiritual. The material mode of goodness has nothing to do with spiritual varieties. Mayavadi philosophers, however, cannot clearly understand spiritual varieties; therefore they imagine a negation of the material world to be the spiritual world. The material qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance cannot act in the spiritual world, which is therefore called nirguna, as clearly indicated in the Bhagavad-gita (trai-gunya-visaya veda nistrai-gunyo bhavarjuna). The material world is a manifestation of the three modes of material nature, but one has to become free from these modes to come to the spiritual world, where their influence is completely absent. Now Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu will disassociate Lord Siva from Mayavada philosophy in the following verse.
Adi7.114
TEXT 114
tanra dosa nahi, tenho ajna-kari dasa
ara yei sune tara haya sarva-nasa
SYNONYMS
tanra—his (Lord Siva’s); dosa—fault; nahi—there is none; tenho—he; ajna-kari—obedient order-carrier; dasa—servant; ara—others; yei—anyone; sune—hears (the Mayavada philosophy); tara—of him; haya—becomes; sarva-nasa—everything lost
TRANSLATION
"Sankaracarya, who is an incarnation of Lord Siva, is faultless because he is a servant carrying out the orders of the Lord. But those who follow his Mayavadi philosophy are doomed. They will lose all their advancement in spiritual knowledge.
PURPORT
Mayavadi philosophers are very proud of exhibiting their Vedanta knowledge through grammatical jugglery, but in the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krsna certifies that they are mayayapahrta-jnana, bereft of real knowledge due to maya. Maya has two potencies with which to execute her two functions-praksepatmika-sakti, the power to throw the living entity into the ocean of material existence, and avaranatmika-sakti, the power to cover the knowledge of the living entity. The function of the avaranatmika-sakti is explained in the Bhagavad-gita by the word mayayapahrta-jnanah.
Why the daivi-maya, or illusory energy of Krsna, takes away the knowledge of the Mayavadi philosophers is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita by the use of the words asuram bhavam asritah, which refer to a person who does not agree to the existence of the Lord. The Mayavadis, who are not in agreement with the existence of the Lord, can be classified in two groups, exemplified by the impersonalist Sankarites of Varanasi and the Buddhists of Saranatha. Both groups are Mayavadis, and Krsna takes away their knowledge due to their atheistic philosophies. Neither group agrees to accept the existence of a personal God. The Buddhist philosophers clearly deny both the soul and God, and although the Sankarites do not openly deny God, they say that the Absolute is nirakara, or formless. Thus both the Buddhists and the Sankarites are avisuddha-buddhayah, or imperfect and unclean in their knowledge and intelligence.
The most prominent Mayavadi scholar, Sadananda Yogindra, has written a book called Vedanta-sara, in which he expounds the philosophy of Sankaracarya, and all the followers of Sankara’s philosophy attribute great importance to his statements. In this Vedanta-sara Sadananda Yogindra defines Brahman as sac-cid-ananda combined with knowledge and without duality, and he defines ignorance (jada) as knowledge distinct from that of sat and asat. This is almost inconceivable, but it is a product of the three material qualities. Thus he considers anything other than pure knowledge to be material. The center of ignorance is considered to be sometimes all-pervading and sometimes individual. Thus according to his opinion both the all-pervading Visnu and the individual living entities are products of ignorance.
In simple language, it is the opinion of Sadananda Yogindra that since everything is nirakara (formless), the conception of Visnu and the conception of the individual soul are both products of ignorance. He also explains that the visuddha-sattva conception of the Vaisnavas is nothing but pradhana, or the chief principle of creation. He maintains that when all-pervading knowledge is contaminated by the visuddha-sattva, which consists of a transformation of the quality of goodness, there arises the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the omnipotent, omniscient supreme ruler, the Supersoul, the cause of all causes, the supreme isvara, etc. According to Sadananda Yogindra, because isvara, the Supreme Lord, is the reservoir of all ignorance, He may be called sarva-jna, or omniscient, but one who denies the existence of the omnipotent Supreme Personality of Godhead is more than isvara, or the Lord. His conclusion, therefore, is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead (isvara) is a transformation of material ignorance and that the living entity (jiva) is covered by ignorance. Thus he describes both collective and individual existence in darkness. According to Mayavadi philosophers, the Vaisnava conception of the Lord as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and of the jiva, or individual soul, as His eternal servant is a manifestation of ignorance. If we accept the judgment of Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita, however, the Mayavadis are to be considered mayayapahrta-jnana, or bereft of all knowledge, because they do not recognize the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or they claim that His existence is a product of the material conception (maya). These are characteristics of asuras, or demons.
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in His discourses with Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, said:
jivera nistara lagi’ sutra kaila vyasa
mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa
Vyasadeva composed the Vedanta-sutra to deliver the conditioned souls from this material world, but Sankaracarya, by presenting the Vedanta-sutra in his own way, has clearly done a great disservice to human society, for one who follows his Mayavada philosophy is doomed. In the Vedanta-sutra, devotional service is clearly indicated, but the Mayavadi philosophers refuse to accept the spiritual body of the Supreme Absolute Person and refuse to accept that the living entity has an individual existence separate from that of the Supreme Lord. Thus they have created atheistic havoc all over the world, for such a conclusion is against the very nature of the transcendental process of pure devotional service. The Mayavadi philosophers’ unrealizable ambition to become one with the Supreme through denying the existence of the Personality of Godhead results in a most calamitous misrepresentation of spiritual knowledge, and one who follows this philosophy is doomed to remain perpetually in this material world. Therefore the Mayavadis are called avisuddha-buddhayah, or unclean in knowledge. Because they are unclean in knowledge, all their austerities and penances end in frustration. Thus although they may be honored at first as very learned scholars, ultimately they descend to physical activities of politics, social work, etc. Instead of becoming one with the Supreme Lord, they again become one with these material activities. This is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.32):
aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho ’nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah
In actuality the Mayavadi philosophers very strictly follow the austerities and penances of spiritual life and in this way are elevated to the impersonal Brahman platform, but due to their negligence of the lotus feet of the Lord they again fall down to material existence.
Adi7.115
TEXT 115
prakrta kariya mane visnu-kalevara
visnu-ninda ara nahi ihara upara
SYNONYMS
prakrta—material; kariya—taking it to be so; mane—accepts; visnu—Lord Visnu’s; kalevara—body; visnu-ninda—defaming or blaspheming Lord Visnu; ara—beyond this; nahi—none; ihara—of this; upara—above.
TRANSLATION
"One who considers the transcendental body of Lord Visnu to be made of material nature is the greatest offender at the lotus feet of the Lord. There is no greater blasphemy against the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
PURPORT
Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami explains that the variegated personal feature of the Absolute Truth is the visnu-tattva and that the material energy, which creates this cosmic manifestation, is the energy of Lord Visnu. The creative force is merely the energy of the Lord, but the foolish conclude that because the Lord has distributed Himself in an impersonal form He has no separate existence.. The impersonal Brahman, however, cannot possess energies, nor does the Vedic literature state that maya (the illusory energy) is covered by another maya. There are hundreds and thousands of references, however, to visnu-maya (parasya saktih), or the energy of Lord Visnu. In the Bhagavad-gita (7.14) Krsna refers to mama maya (“My energy”). Maya is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; it is not that He is covered by maya. Therefore Lord Visnu cannot be a product of the material energy. In the beginning of the Vedanta-sutra it is said, janmady asya yatah, indicating that the material energy is also an emanation of the Supreme Brahman. How then could He be covered by the material energy? If that were possible, material energy would be greater than the Supreme Brahman. Even these simple arguments, however, cannot be understood by the Mayavadi philosophers, and therefore the term mayayapahrta-jnana, which is applied to them in the Bhagavad-gita, is extremely appropriate. Anyone who thinks that Lord Visnu is a product of the material energy, as explained by Sadananda Yogindra, should immediately be understood to be insane, for his knowledge has been stolen by the illusory energy.
Lord Visnu cannot be placed within the category of the demigods. Those who are actually bewildered by the Mayavada philosophy and are still in the darkness of ignorance consider Lord Visnu to be a demigod, in defiance of the Rg-vedic mantra om tad visnoh paramam padam (“Visnu is always in a superior position”). This mantra is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: mattah parataram nanyat-there is no truth superior to Lord Krsna, or Visnu. Thus only those whose knowledge has been bewildered consider Lord Visnu to be a demigod and therefore suggest that one may worship either Lord Visnu, the goddess Kali (Durga) or whomever one likes and achieve the same result. This is an ignorant conclusion that is not accepted in the Bhagavad-gita, which distinctly says, yanti deva-vrata devan . . . yanti mad-yajino’pi mam: “The worshipers of the demigods will be promoted to the respective planets of the demigods, but devotees of the Supreme Lord will go back home, back to Godhead.” (Bg. 9.25) Lord Krsna explains very clearly in the Bhagavad-gita that His material energy is very difficult to overcome: daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya. Maya’s influence is so strong that even learned scholars and spiritualists are also covered by maya and think themselves to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually, however, to free oneself from the influence of maya one must surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as Krsna also states in the Bhagavad-gita: mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te. It is to be concluded, therefore, that Lord Visnu does not belong to this material creation but to the spiritual world. To misconceive Lord Visnu to have a material body or to equate Him with the demigods is the most offensive blasphemy against Lord Visnu, and offenders against the lotus feet of Lord Visnu cannot advance in spiritual knowledge. They are called mayayapahrta-jnana, or those whose knowledge has been stolen by the influence of illusion.
One who thinks that there is a difference between Lord Visnu’s body and His soul dwells in the darkest region of ignorance. There is no difference between Lord Visnu’s body and Visnu’s soul, for they are advaya-jnana, one knowledge. In this world there is a difference between the material body and the spiritual soul, but in the spiritual world everything is spiritual, and there are no such differences. The greatest offense of the Mayavadi philosophers is to consider Lord Visnu and the living entities to be one and the same. In this connection the Padma Purana states, arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhih: “One who considers the arca-murti, the worshipable Deity of Lord Visnu, to be stone, the spiritual master to be an ordinary human being, and a Vaisnava to belong to a particular caste or creed, is possessed of hellish intelligence.” One who follows such conclusions is doomed.
Adi7.116
TEXT 116
isvarera tattva--yena jvalita jvalana
jivera svarupa--yaiche sphulingera kana
SYNONYMS
isvarera tattva—the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yena—is like; jvalita—blazing; jvalana—fire; jivera—of the living entities; svarupa—identity; yaiche—is like; sphulingera—of the spark; kana—particle.
TRANSLATION
"The Lord is like a great blazing fire, and the living entities are like small sparks of that fire.
PURPORT
Although sparks and a big fire are both fire and both have the power to burn, the burning power of the fire and that of the spark are not the same. Why should one artificially try to become like a big fire although by constitution he is like a small spark? It is due to ignorance. One should therefore understand that neither the Supreme Personality of Godhead nor the small sparklike living entities have anything to do with matter, but when the spiritual spark comes in contact with the material world his fiery quality is extinguished. That is the position of the conditioned souls. Because they are in touch with the material world, their spiritual quality is almost dead, but because these spiritual sparks are all Krsna’s parts and parcels, as the Lord states in the Bhagavad-gita (mamaivamsah), they can revive their original position by getting free from material contact. This is pure philosophical understanding. In the Bhagavad-gita the spiritual sparks are declared to be sanatana (eternal); therefore the material energy, maya, cannot affect their constitutional position.
Someone may argue, “Why is there a need to create the spiritual sparks?” The answer can be given in this way: Since the Absolute Personality of Godhead is omnipotent, He has both unlimited and limited potencies. This is the meaning of omnipotent. To be omnipotent, He must have not only unlimited potencies but limited potencies also. Thus to exhibit His omnipotency He displays both. The living entities are endowed with limited potency although they are part of the Lord. The Lord displays the spiritual world by His unlimited potencies, whereas by His limited potencies the material world is displayed. In the Bhagavad-gita (7.5) the Lord says:
apareyam itas tv anyam
prakrtim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho
yayedam dharyate jagat
“Besides these inferior energies, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises all living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.” The jiva-bhuta, the living entities, control this material world with their limited potencies. Generally, people are bewildered by the activities of scientists and technologists. Due to maya they think that there is no need of God and that they can do everything and anything, but actually they cannot. Since this cosmic manifestation is limited, their existence is also limited. Everything in this material world is limited, and for this reason there is creation, sustenance and dissolution. However, in the world of unlimited energy, the spiritual world, there is neither creation nor destruction.
If the Personality of Godhead did not possess both limited and unlimited energies, He could not be called omnipotent. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan: ’. “The Lord is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest.” He is smaller than the smallest in the form of the living entities and greater than the greatest in His form of Krsna. If there were no one to control, there would be no meaning to the conception of the supreme controller (isvara), just as there is no meaning to a king without his subjects. If all the subjects became king, there would be no distinction between the king and an ordinary citizen. Thus for the Lord to be the supreme controller there must be a creation to control. The basic principle for the existence of the living entities is called cid-vilasa, or spiritual pleasure. The omnipotent Lord displays His pleasure potency as the living entities. The Lord is described in the Vedanta-sutra (1.1.12) as ananda-mayo ’bhyasat. He is by nature the reservoir of all pleasures, and because He wants to enjoy pleasure, there must be energies to give Him pleasure or supply Him the impetus for pleasure. This is the perfect philosophical understanding of the Absolute Truth.