SRI SRI CAITANYA SIKSAMRTA - Chapter one part five
In his Vedanta sutra Srila Vyasadeva has described that everything is but a transformation of the energy of the Lord.1 Sankaracarya, however, has misled the world by commenting that Vyasadeva was mistaken. Thus he has raised great opposition to theism throughout the entire world. According to Sankaracarya, by accepting the theory of the transformation of the energy of the Lord, one creates an illusion by indirectly accepting that the Absolute Truth is transformed. Transformation of energy is a proven fact. It is the false bodily conception of the self that is an illusion. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is opulent in all respects. Therefore by His inconceivable energies He has transformed the material cosmic manifestation.2 Using the example of a touchstone, which by its energy turns iron to gold and yet remains the same, we can understand that although the Supreme Personality of Godhead transforms his innumerable energies, He remains unchanged. Although touchstone produces many varieties of valuable jewels, it nevertheless remains the same. It does not change its original form.
C.C.Adi 7.121-126
When we speak of the Supreme as impersonal, we deny His spiritual potencies. Logically, if you accept half of the truth, you cannot understand the whole.
C.C. Adi 7.140
To Sarvabhauma:
Vedanta sutra is the summary of all the Upanisads; therefore whatever direct meaning is there in the Upanisads is also recorded in the Vedanta sutra or Vyasa sutra. For each verse the direct meaning must be accepted without interpretation.
C.C.Madhya 6.133-134
To the sannyasis Varanasi:
The Vedic sound vibration omkara, the principle word in the Vedic literatures, is the basis of all Vedic vibrations. Therefore one should accept omkara as the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the reservoir of the cosmic manifestation. It is the purpose of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to present pranava as the reservoir of all Vedic knowledge. The words "tat tvam asi" are only a partial explanation of the Vedic knowledge. Pranava is the mahavakya in the Vedas. Sankaracarya's followers cover this to stress without authority the mantra "tat tvam asi." 3
C.C.Adi 7.128-130
Vedanta philosophy consists of words, spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Narayana in the form of Vyasadeva. The material defects of mistakes, illusions, cheating and sensory inefficiently do not exist in the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Absolute Truth is described by the Upanisads and Brahma sutra, but one must understand the verses as they are. That is the supreme glory in understanding. Sripad Sankaracarya has described all the Vedic literatures in terms of indirect meanings. One who hears such explanations is ruined. 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.
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. 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. 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. Sankaracarya, who is an incarnation of Lord Siva, is faultless because he is a servant carrying out the orders of the Lord.4 But those who follow his Mayavadi philosophy are doomed. They will lose all their advancement in spiritual knowledge.
C.C.Adi 7.106-114
Pranava or omkara is an indirect name of Krsna, the original sound of the Vedas, sabda brahma. The noun "pranava" is formed from the verb pranu (to sound) made from the prefix pra (very much) and the verb nu (to praise). Therefore pranava or omkara is the sound incarnation of the Supreme Brahman, the person worthy of our praise and worship.
From omkara all the Vedas have appeared. Prana is the seed of the Vedas, the mahavakya or principal sound. All other parts of the Vedas are particular statements of relative value. Sankaracarya, the formulator of mayavada philosophy, minimized the prominent position of omkara and proclaimed four specialized statements as mahavakya: 1. aham brahmasmi (I am brahman) 2. prajnanam brahma (brahman is knowledge) 3. tattvam asi (you are that brahman) 4. ekam eva advitiyam (There is only one existent being.)
Seeing a need to hide pranava, the seed of the Vedas, because it proclaims pure devotion, Sankaracarya took other statements as the essence of the Vedas and preached exclusive monism. He taught that the conditioned jiva is simply an illusion produced by maya, that the brahman is subjected to maya, and that liberation for the jiva is the absence of maya. By this philosophy the pure relation of jiva with the Supreme brahman becomes hidden. The import of all the Vedas has not been considered. Thus, Madhvacarya took other Vedic statements and established an opposing philosophy, dvaitavad. However, because he did not consider all the Vedic statements, the full relation of the jiva to the Lord was not revealed. Ramanujacarya as well, in his visistadvaita philosophy, did not show the complete relationship. Nimbarka Swami, propounder of Dvaitadvaita, preached a somewhat incomplete doctrine. Visnu Swami also, in his suddhadvaita doctrine, left some ambiguity. In order to establish the eternal nature of prema, Mahaprabhu gave pure, complete teachings about the relationship of jiva with the Lord through the doctrine of acintya bhedabheda, and in this way delivered the world from the darkness of mental speculation.
Mahaprabhu said that the only mahavakya is pranava. Its meaning is evident in the Upanisads. What the Upanisads teach is perfectly sanctioned by Vyasa in the Vedanta Sutras. The commentary of the Vedanta sutras is the Srimad Bhagavatam. The first sutra teaches that the principle of transformation is the truth. yato va imani bhutani jayante (Taittriya Upanisad) also supports this. The Bhagavatam also establishes this truth. Fearing that with the principle of transformation, the brahman becomes changeable, Sankara established vivarta-vada, the theory of illusion. This vivarta-vad is the root of all faults.
Parinama-vada, transformation through the Lord's energies, is approved by all scriptures and is the principle of pure existence. If the eternal existence of the Lord's energies is not accepted in parinama-vada, then the defects of the Lord falling under illusion and deterioration of the Lord appear. But if the eternal, natural, superior energy of the Lord is accepted, then there is no fault in parinama-vada.
The transformations of the Lord's energy, which give rise to the material universe, are factual, but the Lord does not change. By transformation of the Lord's energies, the material world and the jivas take their existence. Though gold is produced from the touchstone, the touchstone remains unaffected. In this example given by Mahaprabhu, it is clear that Krsna's energies perform the creation, whereas Krsna's remains unaffected. It is all the transformation of His energies. By transformation of the cit sakti, the Lord's dhama, name, form, qualities, pastimes and the jivas as minute transformations exist. By transformation of the maya sakti, the material world (fourteen worlds) and the subtle and gross bodies of the jivas appear. This parinama-vada is found everywhere in the Vedanta Sutras and the Upanisads. The gradual evolution of mahatattva, ahankara, ether, fire. air, water and earth is also parinamavada.
After all the efforts of advaitavada, what is left is an imaginary jiva and imaginary world, but in pure parinama-vada, by Krsna's will, the material world and the jivas exist as true entities.5 The world is not illusion, but temporary, since by Krsna's will it may dissolve. Although the Lord creates the world and enters into it, he remains eternally independent in his form as Krsna served by his spiritual energies.6 Only those who can understand this remarkable feature of the Lord are able to taste the Lord's opulence and sweetness. This is the relation of the jiva to Krsna.
The jiva's relation with the temporary world is like that of a traveler at an inn. Yukta vairagya, the proper way to deal with the world, arises from a correct understanding of the relation between jiva and the material energy. As long as the correct understanding of temporary and permanent does not arise, the bound jiva cannot perform proper activities. According to Lord Caitanya's doctrine, the jiva's identity and difference from the Lord, and the world's difference and identity with the Lord are both established as truth. Since this cannot be adjusted by limited human reasoning, this eternal difference and non difference is called acintya or inconceivable. Though it is inconceivable, logic and reasoning are not dissatisfied, for it is reasonable that God can have inconceivable power. Whatever is established by the Lord's inconceivable power, can only be understood by the Lord's mercy. 7 The ancient sages have taught that logic cannot be applied to the inconceivable, for in inconceivable matters, logic cannot be accepted as a proof. 8 Those who cannot grasp this are most unfortunate.
1 The blazing fire is different from the flames, from the sparks and from the smoke, although all are intimately connected because they are born from the same blazing wood. S..B.3.28.40
2 After the incarnation of the first purusa, the mahat-tattva, or the principles of material creation, take place, and then time is manifested, and in course of time the three qualities appear. Nature means the three qualitative appearances. They transform into activities. Material activities are caused by the mahat-tattva's being agitated. At first there is transformation of the modes of goodness and passion, and later--due to the mode of ignorance--matter, its knowledge, and different activities of material knowledge come into play. S.B.2.5.22-23
3 From the beginning of creation, the three words om tast sat were used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth. B.G.17.23
4 Padma Purana Uttara Khanda Krsna orders Siva:
svagamaih kalpitais trsna janan mad vimukhan kuru
mam ca gopaya tena syat srstir esottarottara
In the future you should create scriptures by which people will turn from me. I will become hidden.
Padma Purana:
mayavadam asacchastrat pracchannam bauddham eva ca
mayaiva vihitam devi kalau brahmana murtina
The Mayavada philosophy is incorrect. It is covered Buddhism. It will be created by me through a Brahmana in Kali yuga.
5 My dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the best path for self realization. If someone gives up that path and engages in the cultivation of speculative knowledge, he will simply undergo a troublesome process and will not achieve his desired result. As a person who beats an empty husk of wheat cannot get grain one who simply speculates cannot achieve self-realization. His only gain is trouble. S.B.10.14.4
6 S.B.1.9.34
7 S.B. 1.9.31
8 acintya khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet
prakrtibhyah ruvam (?) yacca tad acintyasya laksanam
That which is inconceivable cannot be subject to logic. Those things beyond our material experience are considered inconceivable.
naisa tarkena matir apaneya
The goal cannot be reached by logic.
