So this was going on naturally. Whenever a man becomes prominent, so many others, they come to challenge him. That is natural sequence.

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."

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.

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.