670120CC.SF
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 25.19-31

San Francisco, January 20, 1967
Prabhupada: ...by Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the Mayavadi sannyasis. They were convinced with the arguments and presentation of Lord Caitanya. And from that day, not only the sannyasis, but also the people in general, they also became very much admirer of Lord Caitanya. So,
And because He defeated the Mayavadi philosophers, many other scholars also began to meet Him personally and talk with Him, argue with Him.
So this was going on naturally. Whenever a man becomes prominent, so many others, they come to challenge him. That is natural sequence.
The speciality of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was that He used to put very sound arguments, and He used to defeat His opponents in such a way that they were satisfied. They were not inimical. And with the evidence of sastra. Not that argumentum vaculum. He was putting reasonable arguments and evidences from sastra, scripture. Sarva-sastra khandi' prabhu bhakti kare sara. And the beauty was that He was defeating all other arguments against devotional service. He was establishing only that God is great, and we are meant for serving Him. On this basis He was arguing and He was defeating others.
And the whole city became surcharged with Krsna kirtana. Everyone began to dance and sing Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. They may understand or not understand, but the infection was there that everyone was chanting.
Now, so far the sannyasis were concerned, they practically gave up their so-called Vedanta study, and they simply began to discuss on the sublime presentation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and they were enjoying that.
So after this incidence, one of the chief disciples of Prakasananda Sarasvati, he stood up and began to glorify Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the following words:
sri-krsna-caitanya haya 'saksat narayana'
'vyasa-sutrera' artha karena ati-manorama
Amongst the Mayavada sannyasis, the etiquette is to address one another as Narayana. They say, "namo narayana," "Everyone is Narayana." I address you, "namo narayana," and you address me, "namo narayana." A mutual praising society of Narayanas. Narayana eko asit. In the Vedas it is said that only Narayana was before creation. So after creation, all these living entities became Narayana. This is their philosophy, that "There is no separate Narayana. Narayana has manifested pantheism. Narayana has manifested Himself in so many varieties. And the varieties is closed; then again, Narayana remains." So this Mayavada sannyasis, they address one another as "Narayana." And Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also a sannyasi, so he is addressing Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the supreme Narayana, as the chief Narayana. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). As it is stated in the Kathopanisad, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the leader of all other personalities. He's also person, we are also person. But He is leader. Of all living entities, He is the supreme living entity. Of all eternals He is the supreme eternal.
So the disciple of Prakasananda Sarasvati, he addressed Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the chief Narayana, saksad-narayana. "We are all imitation Narayana, but You are the chief Narayana." Vyasa-sutrera artha karena ati-manorama. "And Caitanya's Mahaprabhu's special qualification is that He presents Vedanta-sutra in such a nice way that it is wonderful."
"And He presents the import of Upanisad in such a way that everyone becomes pleased by hearing His explanation."
"So long Sankaracarya, he has imagined some meaning, and therefore that is not so pleasing as much as Caitanya Mahaprabhu's interpretation." Not interpretation; "direct explanation."
"So we belong to this Mayavadi sect. Although we hear the Sariraka-bhasya of Sankaracarya and we say, 'Yes, yes,' but actually, it does not appeal to us."
There is the important point of Mayavadi philosophers. Every one of them, they say that "I am God," but actually he thinks within himself that "What kind of God I am?" That is the position. But for argument's sake they will play so many things in support of their views, but actually, any sane man will think that "What kind of God I am? I cannot defend myself from the slightest attack of this material nature, and still I claim..." But they cannot admit frankly. They think like that. That is being admitted here by the chief disciple of Prakasananda Sarasvati, that "Although we say, 'Yes, this is...,' but it does not appeal to our mind." He is frankly saying.
Now he says that "What Lord Caitanya, Sri Krsna Caitanya, has said, that is very nice. And we simply accept this sannyasa order. Oh, that will not help us. Simply by accepting, changing the garment, colored garment, and without understanding anything properly or dealing properly, that is not the way for salvation." Because according to Sankaracarya, anyone who accepts sannyasa, he becomes immediately Narayana, God. He immediately becomes God. So that is being refuted by one of the disciples, that "This is nonsense, that simply by accepting and changing the garment I become God. This is not..." Actually, one has to understand things as they are. So therefore, the explanation as given by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that is right.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu has explained before them that "My Guru Maharaja saw Me a fool. Therefore he has asked Me the 'Chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna.' " So "This explanation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very nice."
So far salvation is concerned, nobody can be liberated without bhakti, without devotional service. Bhakti vina, without devotion, or without love of Godhead, without attaining... That is the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. So long one is not a surrendered soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of liberation from this material world. Bhagavata says, sreyah-srtim bhaktim udasya te vibho. Here's a nice verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is said there that sreyah-srtim, the real path of salvation, sreyah-srtim, bhaktim, that is devotional service, Krsna consciousness. Sreyah-srtim bhaktim. Bhaktim udasya te vibho. If somebody gives up the path of devotional service, klisyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye, and wastes time simply for understanding that "This is not Brahman, this is not Brahman..." That is the way of Mayavadi philosophers. They scrutinize that "This is maya and this is Brahman"; therefore they are called Mayavadis. Simply, what is not Brahman... They say it is one, but simply they distinguish, "This is maya, this is Brahman." Why this is maya? They say, wherefrom the maya comes? Then it becomes dualism actually. Although they say that "We are monists, one," but they explain that this maya is illusion. Maya is temporary, and actually, everything is one. Eko brahma dvitiya nasti. But the Vaisnava philosophy is that "Yes... It is..." It is called visistadvaitavada. We also say, "Yes, one," but one in variety. There are varieties. We don't say that maya is something external. Maya is there. Maya is there. It is not external. It may be inferior, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gita that material energy, the material nature is inferior. That does not mean infer... Some part of my body is inferior. That does not mean it has no existence. It is not mithya. They say everything mithya. Mithya means false. So inferior part of my body there may be, but it is not false. Similarly, the maya, maya is not false. It is temporary.
So the Bhagavata says, simply to understand "This is not Brahman, this is maya, this is not Brahman," if you go on speculating and without any interest for devotional service or Krsna consciousness, then tesam esa klesala eva sisyate. So their advancement in self-realization is simply troublesome. Troublesome. They simply take the trouble of discriminating that "This is maya, this is Brahman. This is false, this is reality." Because they have no other engagement. For a devotee there are so many engagements, but the Mayavadi philosopher takes it for granted that these devotees' activities... "They are cooking for Krsna or they are offering prasadam to Krsna, they are decorating Krsna, or they are singing for Krsna, glorifying Krsnathese are all mayic activities," they say. Because this bhakti-marga is not appealing to them. They simply want to... Similarly, the bhaktas also say that "You are simply wasting time. Real thing is Krsna. Just engage yourself in the service of Krsna." They also say, "Krsna is also maya." According to them, Krsna is also maya. And Krsna in Bhagavad-gita says that they are fools. How? Avajananti mam mudha. Mudha means "The fools, they minimize Me. They decry at Me." Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritah [Bg. 9.11]. "Because I come as incarnation, therefore the fools, they consider..., or they deride at Me." Param bhavam ajananto. They do not know the background of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mama bhuta-mahesvaram. Krsna says, "I am the Supreme Lord." They do not know. Who do not know? The Mayavadis, they do not know. So therefore their labor of love for discriminating what is maya and what is not maya is simply troublesome. Tesam klesala eva avasisyate nanyad yatha sthula-tusavaghatinam. Just like the skins of rice, when it is taken, there is no more grain. So the grain is separated from the skin by beating. There is a beating machine in India. That is a crude, original way of separating the grain from the skin. So when the skin is out from the grain, if you simply beat the skin, no more there is grain. So similarly, if you make minus Krsna, then the study of Bhagavad-gita is simply waste of time and labor of love. That's all. "Not Krsna." This means, this Mayavada philosophy means simply taking trouble. Bhagavad-gita is all full..., simply Krsna. To understand this, it is a science of Krsna. And if somebody says, "It is not Krsna," then what is that? Simply waste of time and labor. The same thing: the grain is taken out. Simply the skin, enjoy the skin. What is there in the skin?
So this is the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam, that sreyah-srtim bhaktim udasya te vibho klisyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye. Bodha-labdhaye. They stress on knowledge. What is this knowledge? You can talk on any insignificant thing for many years. That is not knowledge. Just like in the present modern civlization, so many nonsense articles without any utility, or volumes of volumes of books are sold in the market. There is nothing, no substance. Take for this..., newspaper. Especially in your country, volumes of papers in the news. Just after glancing over, it is thrown away. That's all. No more use. Just as The newspaper is published early in the morning, and just in the afternoon it is useless, it is heap of paper only, because there is no substance. Nobody can take any interest. But see Bhagavad-gita, it is, five thousand years before it was published, and a few pages only, and how much care is being taken after Bhagavad-gita. Because there is substance. Similarly, if you don't accept the substance, simply if you are busy with the skin... In Bengali it is called cavara nie tanake (?). Cavara means skin. You have seen coconut. The coconut is covered by heavy, what is called, fibers. So if you give up the coconut and simply quarrel with the fibers, what profit is there? There is no profit. Similarly, if you give up God, or Krsna, who is the essence of everything, and you make your advancement in scientific knowledge, in physics and chemistry and so many departments of knowledge, so according to Bhagavata this is simply waste of time. Simply waste of time. But what we'll gain? Kevala-bodha-labdhaye. Suppose you understand in your human form of life the whole constitution of the universe... That is stated in Bible also, that "If somebody understands everything, but not God, then what does he gain?" Similarly, there is another verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam that one may be very much expert to count even the atoms of the universe. You smash the universe and grind it into powder, and you just count all the atoms. That is possible . But still, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore who understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he understands everything. Tasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavanti. If somebody understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, he understands everything because He is everything.
So we should not make progress in the negative way, leaving aside... Just like you do not know what you are. You are studying this body. If I do not find out who is the proprietor of the body, who is sitting in the body so that this body is so nice, fresh, and walking and moving... That you do not find. But you simply... You're studying, what is called? Physiological condition, anatomical condition, and metabolism, this or that. There are so many big, big names. But real, the proprietor of the body... The doctors are sitting, analyzing. But as soon as the soul passes, they cannot explain what happened, what happened to this meta..., I mean to say, anatomy and physiology. They stand fools. So this is going on. The essence of the thing, the essence of the manifestation, cosmic manifestation they have missed. They're simply analyzing the outward cover. That's all. That sort of analysis is compared here as simply beating the bush. That's all. (laughter) It has no value.
All right. (end)

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