karmāṇy anīhasya bhavo 'bhavasya te durgāśrayo 'thāri-bhayāt palāyanam kālātmano yat pramadā-yutāśrayaḥ svātman-rateḥ khidyati dhīr vidām iha

The scriptures known as the Pancaratra-sastras are recognized Vedic scriptures that have been accepted by the great acaryas. These scriptures are not products of the modes of passion and ignorance. Learned scholars and brahmanas therefore always refer to them as satvata-samhitas. The original speaker of these scriptures is Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is especially mentioned in the Moksa-dharma (349.68), which is part of the Santi-parva of the Mahabharata. Liberated sages like Narada and Vyasa, who are free from the four defects of conditioned souls, are the propagators of these scriptures. Sri Narada Muni is the original speaker of the Pancaratra-sastra. Srimad-Bhagavatam is also considered a satvata-samhita. Indeed, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu declared, srimad-bhagavatam puranam amalam: "Srimad-Bhagavatam is a spotless Purana." Malicious editors and scholars who attempt to misrepresent the Pancaratra-sastras to refute its regulations are most abominable. In the modern age, such malicious scholars have even commented misleadingly upon Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken by Krsna, to prove that there is no Krsna. How the Mayavadis have misrepresented the pancaratrika-vidhi will be shown below.

(1) In commenting on the forty-second verse of the Vedanta-sutra, Sripad Saṅkaracarya has claimed that Saṅkarsana is jiva, the ordinary living entity, but there is no evidence in any Vedic scripture that devotees of the Lord have ever said that Saṅkarsana is an ordinary living entity. He is an infallible plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Visnu category, and He is beyond the creation of material nature. He is the original source of the living entities. The Upanisads declare, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: "He is the supreme living entity among all the living entities." Therefore He is vibhu-caitanya, the greatest. He is directly the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the infinitesimal living beings. He is the infinite living entity, and ordinary living entities are infinitesimal. Therefore He is never to be considered an ordinary living being, for that would be against the conclusion of the authorized scriptures. The living entities are also beyond the limitations of birth and death. This is the version of the Vedas, and it is accepted by those who follow scriptural injunctions and who have actually descended in the disciplic succession.

(2) In answer to Saṅkaracarya's commentary on the forty-third verse, it must be said that the original Visnu of all the Visnu categories, which are distributed in several ways, is Mula Saṅkarsana. Mula means "the original." Saṅkarsana is also Visnu, but from Him all other Visnus expand. This is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, wherein it is said that just as a flame transferred from another flame acts like the original, so the Visnus who emanate from Mula Saṅkarsana are as good as the original Visnu. One should worship that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who thus expands Himself.

(3) In reply to the commentary of Saṅkaracarya on the forty-fourth verse, it may be said that no pure devotees strictly following the principles of Pancaratra will ever accept the statement that all the expansions of Visnu are different identities, for this idea is completely false. Even Sripad Saṅkaracarya, in his commentary on the forty-second verse, has accepted that the Personality of Godhead can automatically expand Himself variously. Therefore his commentary on the forty-second verse and his commentary on the forty-fourth verse are contradictory. It is a defect of Mayavada commentaries that they make one statement in one place and a contradictory statement in another place as a tactic to refute the Bhagavata school. Thus Mayavadi commentators do not even follow regulative principles. It should be noted that the Bhagavata school accepts the quadruple forms of Narayana, but that does not mean that it accepts many Gods. Devotees know perfectly well that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. They are never pantheists, worshipers of many Gods, for this is against the injunction of the Vedas. Devotees completely believe, with strong faith, that Narayana is transcendental and has inconceivable proprietorship of various transcendental potencies. We therefore recommend that scholars consult the Laghu-bhagavatamrta of Srila Rupa Gosvami, where these ideas are explicitly stated. Sripad Saṅkaracarya has tried to prove that Vasudeva, Saṅkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha expand through cause and effect. He has compared Them with earth and earthen pots. That is completely ignorant, however, for there is no such thing as cause and effect in Their expansions (nanyad yat sad-asat-param). The Kurma Purana also confirms, deha-dehi-vibhedo 'yam nesvare vidyate kvacit: "There is no difference between body and soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Cause and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences we find in cause and effect. Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of material nature. Standing on the fourth dimension, They are predominating figures on the transcendental platform. There is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions because material laws cannot influence Them. There is no such rule as cause and effect outside of the material world. Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature proves this: