Impersonalism

The most prominent of the formless philosophies is that of impersonalism. Indeed, the influence of impersonalism in one form or another is so great that it may be said to contaminate all conditioned souls. In other words, impersonalism is an integral part of material consciousness.

Although the history of impersonalism is as old as that of the material world, the impersonalist philosophy has most ably been expressed and supported by Sripada Sahkaracarya, the influential spiritual teacher who appeared in India in the 11th Century. Briefly summarized, the philosophy of Sahkaracarya maintains that the material world is an illusion, whereas only Brahman, the Supreme Absolute, exists in truth. According to Sripada Sahkaracarya, the Supreme Absolute Truth is formless, impersonal oneness, and the individual identity of the living being is an illusion; thus when one achieves the highest spiritual realization, he relinquishes his individual existence and merges with the supreme impersonal spirit.

In establishing his philosophical doctrine of impersonalism, Sripada Sahkaracarya accepts the Vedic literatures as authoritative, and this acceptance indicates the underlying purpose of his teachings. When the Personality of Godhead appeared as Lord Buddha, he superficially rejected the Vedas to lead people in general to the religious principles of nonviolence. After the spread of Lord Buddha's teachings, Sahkaracarya sought to defeat the voidist teachings of Lord Buddha and reestablish the authority of the Vedic literature. Therefore, as Lord Buddha deliberately rejected the Vedas and introduced voidism to win adherents to his principles of nonviolence, similarly, to reestablish the authority of the Vedas, Sahkaracarya deliberately taught his then-Buddhist followers the misleading philosophy of impersonalism. This is confirmed in both the Padma and Siva Puranas. Although superficially they may appear to be otherwise, both Lord Buddha and Sahkaracarya were among the greatest of theists, for by their teachings they paved the way for the path of pure devotional service to be established later by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through sahkirtana, or the chanting of the holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The impersonal philosophy of Sahkaracarya is akin to Buddhism, for both philosophies deny the Personality of Godhead. However, whereas Buddha maintained that beyond illusion there is only void, Sahkaracarya accepted the Vedic principle that beyond matter there is an eternal spiritual existence. Sahkaracarya, however, insisted that this spiritual existence is impersonal, although this is against the conclusion of all Vedic literatures. Thus Sahkaracarya both accepted and rejected the Vedas simultaneously. Sripada Sahkaracarya was a brilliant logician, grammarian and scholar, and thus by skillfully misinterpreting the Vedic verses in his own way, he successfully reestablished the authoritative status of the Vedic literature while simultaneously repudiating its ultimate conclusions.

As clearly stated in Bhagavad-gita, the purpose of all the Vedas is to understand Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Bg. 15.15). This is further confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam, the most authorized of the Vedanta-sūtra commentaries: "In the revealed scriptures, the ultimate object of knowledge is Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead." (Bhag. 1.2.28) All the Vedic literatures point to Lord Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, as the fountainhead of all existences. The impersonal philosophy is defective in the same way as voidism because it cannot explain how the many varieties of existence could spring from a source in which variety does not exist. The material cosmos is full of infinitely varied creations, and to maintain that they have all emanated from formless oneness is simply illogical. The original source must be a reservoir of transcendental varieties.

Impersonalist philosophers claim that the varieties of this material world are all false or illusory and that only the Supreme Absolute exists in reality. But if the Absolute is real, how can this world, being an emanation from the Absolute, be false? If the Absolute Truth is real, all emanations from the Absolute Truth must also be real. For example, if a tree has many fruits, can anyone sensibly say that the tree is real but the fruits are false? No. If the tree is real, the fruit must also be real. Therefore, this material world is not merely an illusion. It exists in fact. The illusion is that we accept this world to be a permanent home although in fact it is merely temporary.

It is said, "All that glitters is not gold." Sometimes a seashell underwater appears to be gold though actually it is not. If one thinks an oyster shell to be gold, this is an illusion. But this does not mean that the oyster shell itself is an illusion nor that there is no such thing as real gold. The gold exists, and the oyster shell exists, but mistaking one for the other is illusion. Similarly, the conditioned souls are attracted to the glitter of temporary material enjoyment, as if it were permanent, due to illusion. In the material world, nothing is permanently enjoyable. Therefore anyone who tries to be permanently happy here is a fool and a rascal acting in gross illusion. This does not mean, however, that there is no such thing as real enjoyment. Real enjoyment is elsewhere, in the spiritual world.

It is stated in Bhagavad-gita that beyond this world in which we now live is an eternal spiritual world that is free from the miseries of birth, death, disease and old age. The limited and temporary varieties of this world are but a dim reflection of the unlimited, eternal varieties of that spiritual realm. That world is ananda-cinmaya-rasa; in other words, everything there is eternal, fully conscious and full of transcendental bliss. There is nothing like dead matter in the spiritual world. Everything there is a living principle.

Life in the material world is like diseased life. In a diseased condition, all of one's activities are full of misery, and one cannot enjoy real pleasure as he does when healthy. Similarly, embodied life in the material world may be said to be a diseased state, and the symptoms of this material disease are birth, death, illness and old age. The impersonalist philosopher intelligently desires freedom from this miserable diseased condition, but unfortunately he does not know the proper cure, and therefore he desperately resorts to the drastic prescription of spiritual suicide.

There is a story that a young boy was once afflicted by a dangerously high fever, and his mother called in a doctor who immediately gave him a lethal injection of poison. The mother was struck with grief that her son was no longer breathing and his heart no longer beating, but the doctor was satisfied. "After all," he pointed out, "his fever is now gone." Thus the foolish doctor considered himself successful in treating the disease, although the patient had lost his life. Similarly, because the impersonalist does not know the proper means for restoring the afflicted conditioned soul to healthy life, he prescribes the cure that he merge with the Supreme and thus extinguish his individual existence. This is nothing more than spiritual suicide. It is true that this method can free the conditioned soul from all material distress, but it also robs him of the opportunity to enjoy eternal pleasure on the spiritual platform. A conditioned soul cannot become a liberated soul by extinguishing his individuality any more than a diseased man can become a healthy man by committing suicide.

Therefore, an intelligent person should never adopt the spiritually suicidal course of impersonalism. Rather, one should follow the process recommended by the Vedic literature for developing transcendental healthy life. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhūtaḥ sanatanaḥ: the spirit soul is eternally a tiny part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Gita confirms that the spirit soul is unchanging in its nature. Therefore, just as we are all persons in our present conditioned life in this world, we will remain eternally persons in the future, even after liberation. The essential difference, however, is that now we have forgotten our relationship with the Personality of Godhead and adopted false relationships pertaining to the temporary material body, and in our liberated state we revive our eternal loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. Real liberation, therefore, is to give up the false conception that our short life in this one body is all in all and is meant only for eating, drinking, merrymaking and enjoyment, and to realize that we are all eternally servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna.

Just as we are all persons, Krsna is also a person, but He is the Supreme Person. As stated in the Upanisads, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. There are innumerable eternal living entities, and they are all persons, but their origin is the one Supreme Person upon whom they eternally depend for their existence. When the Upanisads state that the Supreme Lord is formless, this indicates that He does not have a material form like ours, but the Vedic literatures never reject His superexcellent eternal form of knowledge and bliss. His form is made of spirit, not matter, and therefore His qualities, name and activities are spiritual and unlimited, not material and temporary.

The attempt to impose formlessness on the Supreme Absolute Truth is an unjustifiable and offensive attempt to bring Him down to our own mundane level. The impersonalists say, "If God had a form, He would have to be material," but they are in no position to dictate what the Absolute Truth can or cannot do. He is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam as sva-rat, or fully independent, and therefore He is free from all mundane laws and can do whatever He pleases, regardless of the restrictions and limitations that mundane philosophers might like to impose upon Him. He is perfectly free to celebrate His eternal lordship in a transcendental form full of knowledge and bliss and to invite His sincere devotees to participate in His transcendental pastimes of love in eternal bodies similar to His.

This, in fact, is the reality of the spiritual world. The Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally exists in an all-attractive non-material form, and in the spiritual world created of His own transcendental energy, He enjoys reciprocating the loving sentiments of His eternal devotees in unlimited pleasure pastimes. The phrase "love of God" can have no meaning without personal existence. In a loving relationship, there must be a lover, a beloved and the reciprocation of their mutual affection. There is no question of loving anything impersonal or void.

The Supreme Absolute Truth is Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and loving devotion to Sri Krsna exhibited in pure love is achieved through the congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss. The name "Krsna" is referred to as holy because there is no difference between Krsna's name and Lord Sri Krsna Himself. This is confirmed throughout the Vedic literature. By chanting the holy name Krsna one directly associates with Krsna, and by this supreme association one achieves the supreme perfection. As stated in the Narada Pancaratra, when one chants Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, is dancing on his tongue with His supreme pleasure potency. Thus by chanting Hare Krsna one can immediately feel transcendental pleasure coming directly from the spiritual platform.

Bathing in an ocean of ever-increasing transcendental pleasure by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, one feels refreshed, and his mind is cleansed of all material misconceptions and anxieties which obscure his true vision One who is serious and sincere in his search for the Absolute Truth will automatically find a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of the Supreme Lord, and by continued chanting of the holy name of the Lord under the direction of the bona fide spiritual master, one becomes increasingly enlightened in spiritual knowledge and thus realizes his pure and natural identity as an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Regularly chanting and hearing the name and glories of the Lord and rendering service unto a spiritual master who is a pure devotee of the Lord destroy all inauspicious material contamination within the heart of the spiritual candidate and thus establish his loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an irrevocable fact. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (18.55), only by such transcendental loving service can one understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is, and when fully conscious of the Supreme Lord in such devotion, one can enter the kingdom of God.

This practical program of devotional progress centered around the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra is the authorized Vedic way to attain liberation and perfectional spiritual understanding. It has been especially recommended by Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the universal method of God realization in the present age. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the great teacher of devotional service who appeared in Mayapura, India, in the year 1486 and propagated sahkirtana, or the congregational chanting of the holy name. Although the appearance and activities of Lord Caitanya are a matter of historical record, He is not one of the conditioned souls of mundane history. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata), the Supreme Lord descends to this world in every age to help the conditioned living beings come back home, back to Godhead. Lord Caitanya's enlightened biographers have cited numerous authoritative references from Vedic literatures such as the Mahabharata, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Puranas, and Upanisads directly indicating that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, far from being a mundane personality, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, playing the role of His own devotee. The Srimad-Bhagavatam informs us:

"In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly chants the name of Krsna. Although He is Krsna Himself, His bodily complexion is not blackish but golden. He is accompanied by His many associates and servitors." (Bhag. 11.5.32) This quotation directly indicates Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who personally inaugurated the Hare Krsna sahkirtana movement of chanting the names of the Supreme Lord and dancing in ecstasy. He and His personal associates spread this sublime process of chanting and dancing throughout the Indian subcontinent, and now this same process is spreading throughout the world by dint of the efforts of His sincere servitors.

Thus the same Srimad-Bhagavatam that forecast the appearance of Lord Buddha has also specifically predicted the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, whose mission, parentage and bodily features are also described in the Vayu Purana, Caitanya Upanisad, Ananta-samhita and other scriptures. It is therefore the duty of every intelligent person to follow the path of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by chanting the transcendental names of the Lord-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

One need not accept this method on the basis of sentimentality or blind faith. Great scholars in the line of disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya have elaborately and convincingly explained His sublime contribution of devotional service in terms of authoritative evidence and reasoning. It is therefore stated in the Caitanya-caritamrta: "If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply them to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful."

The conceptions of impersonalism and voidism are manifestations of the darkest materialistic ignorance. As in the darkness of night one is unable to distinguish individual objects of vision, so in the darkness of impersonalism and voidism one is unable to distinguish either his own true identity or that of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This darkness, however, can at once be dispelled by the effulgence of the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Maya, or illusion, is always compared to darkness, and Krsna is like the self-effulgent sun. Wherever there is Krsna there can be no maya. It is the grace of Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu that He makes the association of Krsna easily available to all living entities in the form of the Hare Krsna mantra-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna. Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Chanting this maha-mantra can free one from all false conceptions, and thus one can enter the eternal reality of Krsna consciousness. The Caitanya-caritamrta therefore states: "Let us worship Lord Sri Caitanya. Through His mercy, even a child can cross the ocean of nescience, which abounds with the crocodiles of various erroneous doctrines, to arrive at the true conclusion."

One may accept Lord Caitanya to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead or merely a great saintly teacher, but the Vedic literature emphatically declares to human society that if one at all desires spiritual success in the modern age of quarrel and disagreement (Kali-yuga), he must adopt the method taught by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

"Chant the holy name! Chant the holy name! Chant the holy name! In this Kali-yuga there is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way at all." (Brhad-naradiya Purana) Following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya, the present-day Krsna consciousness movement is propagating the supreme science of love of Godhead, teaching who God is and how to love Him. Other religious and philosophical systems teach how to negate God, become God, forget God or derive some benefit from God as in an ordinary business relationship, but the Hare Krsna movement is teaching how to love God. While others deal with God as a "concept" and speculate about whether He factually exists, we appreciate Him as Krsna, the most attractive of all persons and the reservoir of transcendental qualities and pastimes, and we relish His personal association by chanting His names, speaking and hearing about His glories and serving Him in love.

Lord Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham: "As one worships Me or surrenders unto Me, I reveal Myself accordingly." (Bg. 4.11) Therefore, for those who wish to think of Krsna as the subject of a myth, legend, allegory or theory, His existence will remain mythological, legendary, allegorical or theoretical. Similarly, Krsna will permit those who wish to think of Him as impersonal, void or dead to do so. But those who wish to surrender to Krsna in love will be able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. To them He will reveal His beautiful threefold-bending form of Syamasundara, the all-attractive supreme enjoyer who eternally plays on His flute and revels in pastimes of love. Because their eyes are smeared with the ointment of pure love of Godhead, He will always be visible to them in their heart of hearts as Govinda, the reservoir of pleasure in His supreme transcendental form.