20220403 Māyāvādī Philosophers Stress ‘tat tvam asi’ To Cover the Real mahā-mantra ‘oṁkāra’

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 3rd, 2022 at New Pāṇihāṭi Dhāma in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Māyāvādī Philosophers Stress ‘tat tvam asi’ to Cover the Real mahā-mantra ‘oṁkāra’

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.128

vedatarura vīja praṇavai mahāvākya o īśvara-svarūpa :—

‘praṇava’ se mahāvākya—vedera nidāna 
īśvara-svarūpa praṇava sarva-viśva-dhāma

Translation: “The Vedic sound vibration oṁkāra, the principal word in the Vedic literatures, is the basis of all Vedic vibrations. Therefore one should accept oṁkāra as the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the reservoir of the cosmic manifestation.

Purport: In the Bhagavad-gītā (8.13) the glories of oṁkāra are described as follows:

oṁ ity ekākṣaraṁ brahmā vyāharan mām anusmaran 
yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ/ sa yāti paramāṁ gatim

This verse indicates that oṁkāra, or praṇava, is a direct representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore if at the time of death one simply remembers oṁkāra, he remembers the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore immediately transferred to the spiritual world. Haribol! Oṁkāra is the basic principle of all Vedic mantras, for it is a representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, understanding of whom is the ultimate goal of the Vedas, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ -Bg 15.5). Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand these simple facts explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, and yet they are very proud of being Vedāntīs. Sometimes, therefore, we refer to the Vedāntī philosophers as vidantīs, those who have no teeth (vi means “without,” and dantī means “possessing teeth”). The statements of the Śaṅkara philosophy, which are the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosopher, are always broken by the strong arguments of Vaiṣṇava philosophers such as the great ācāryas, especially Rāmānujācārya. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya break the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosophers, who can therefore be called vidantīs, “toothless.”

As mentioned above, the transcendental vibration oṁkāra is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, chapter Eight, verse thirteen:

“After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable oṁ, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets.” If one actually understands that oṁkāra is the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whether he chants oṁkāra or the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the result is certainly the same.

The transcendental vibration of oṁkāra is further explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, chapter Nine, verse seventeen:

pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ 
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca

“I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable oṁ. I am also the Ṛg, the Sāma and the Yajur Vedas.”

Similarly, the transcendental sound oṁ is further explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, chapter Seventeen, verse twenty-three: 

oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo brahmaṇas tri-vidhaḥ smṛtaḥ
brāhmaṇās tena vedāś ca yajñāś ca vihitāḥ purā

“From the beginning of creation, the three syllables oṁ tat sat have been used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth [Brahman]. They were uttered by brāhmaṇas while chanting Vedic hymns and during sacrifices for the satisfaction of the Supreme.”

Throughout all the Vedic literatures the glories of oṁkāra are specifically mentioned. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in his thesis Bhagavat-sandarbha, says that in the Vedic literature oṁkāra is considered to be the sound vibration of the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Only this vibration of transcendental sound can deliver a conditioned soul from the clutches of māyā. Sometimes oṁkāra is also called the deliverer (tāra). Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam begins with the oṁkāra vibration: oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Therefore oṁkāra has been described by the great commentator Śrīdhara Svāmī as tārāṅkura, the seed of deliverance from the material world. Since the Supreme Godhead is absolute, His holy name and His sound vibration oṁkāra are as good as He Himself. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that the holy name, or oṁkāra, the transcendental representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has all the potencies of the Personality of Godhead.

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
(Śikṣāṣtakam 2)

All potencies are invested in the holy vibration of the holy name of the Lord. There is no doubt that the holy name of the Lord, or oṁkāra, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In other words, anyone who chants oṁkāra and the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately meets the Supreme Lord directly in His sound form. In the Nārada-pañcarātra it is clearly said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa personally appears before the chanter who engages in chanting the aṣṭākṣara, or eight-syllable mantra, oṁ namo nārāyaṇāya.

A similar statement in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad declares that whatever one sees in the spiritual world is all an expansion of the spiritual potency of oṁkāra.

On the basis of all the Upaniṣads, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that oṁkāra is the Supreme Absolute Truth and is accepted as such by all the ācāryas and authorities. Oṁkāra is beginningless, changeless, supreme and free from deterioration and external contamination. Oṁkāra is the origin, middle and end of everything, and any living entity who thus understands oṁkāra attains the perfection of spiritual identity in oṁkāra. Oṁkāra, being situated in everyone’s heart, is īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.61): īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati. Oṁkāra is as good as Viṣṇu because oṁkāra is as all-pervasive as Viṣṇu. One who knows oṁkāra and Lord Viṣṇu to be identical no longer has to lament or hanker. One who chants oṁkāra no longer remains a śūdra but immediately comes to the position of a brāhmaṇa. Simply by chanting oṁkāra one can understand the whole creation to be one unit, or an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord: idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaro yato jagat-sthāna-nirodha-sambhavāḥ. “The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only this cosmic manifestation has emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation.” (Bhāg. 1.5.20) Although one who does not understand concludes otherwise, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states that the entire cosmic manifestation is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Realization of this is possible simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, oṁkāra.

One should not, however, foolishly conclude that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is omnipotent, we have manufactured a combination of letters — a, u and m — to represent Him. Factually the transcendental sound oṁkāra, although a combination of the three letters a, u and m, has transcendental potency, and one who chants oṁkāra will very soon realize oṁkāra and Lord Viṣṇu to be nondifferent. Kṛṣṇa declares, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu: “I am the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras.” (Bg. 7.8) One should therefore conclude that among the many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, oṁkāra is the sound incarnation. All the Vedas accept this thesis. One should always remember that the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are always identical (abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ). Since oṁkāra is the basic principle of all Vedic knowledge, it is uttered before one begins to chant any Vedic hymn. Without oṁkāra, no Vedic mantra is successful. The Gosvāmīs therefore declare that praṇava (oṁkāra) is the complete representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they have analyzed oṁkāra in terms of its alphabetical constituents as follows:

a-kāreṇocyate kṛṣṇaḥ sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ
u-kāreṇocyate rādhā ma-kāro jīva-vācakaḥ

Oṁkāra is a combination of the letters a, u and m. A-kāreṇocyate kṛṣṇaḥ: the letter a (a-kāra) refers to Kṛṣṇa, who is sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ, the master of all living entities and planets, material and spiritual. Nāyaka means “leader.” He is the supreme leader (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām). The letter u (u-kāra) indicates Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, and m (ma-kāra) indicates the living entities (jīvas). Thus oṁ is the complete combination of Kṛṣṇa, His potency and His eternal servitors. In other words, oṁkāra represents Kṛṣṇa, His name, fame, pastimes, entourage, expansions, devotees, potencies and everything else pertaining to Him. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu states in the present verse of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, sarva-viśva-dhāma: oṁkāra is the resting place of everything, just as Kṛṣṇa is the resting place of everything (brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham).

The Māyāvādī philosophers consider many Vedic mantras to be the mahā-vākya, or principal Vedic mantra, such as tat tvam asi (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7), idaṁ sarvaṁ yad ayam ātmā and brahmedaṁ sarvam (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.5.1), ātmaivedaṁ sarvam (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.25.2) and neha nānāsti kiñcana (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.1.11). That is a great mistake. Only oṁkāra is the mahā-vākya. All these other mantras that the Māyāvādīs accept as the mahā-vākya are only incidental. They cannot be taken as the mahā-vākya, or mahā-mantra. The mantra tat tvam asi indicates only a partial understanding of the Vedas, unlike oṁkāra, which represents the full understanding of the Vedas. Therefore the transcendental sound that includes all Vedic knowledge is oṁkāra (praṇava).

Aside from oṁkāra, none of the words uttered by the followers of Śaṅkarācārya can be considered the mahā-vākya. They are merely passing remarks. Śaṅkarācārya, however, has never stressed chanting of the mahā-vākya oṁkāra; he has accepted only tat tvam asi as the mahā-vākya. Imagining the living entity to be God, he has misrepresented all the mantras of the Vedānta-sūtra with the motive of proving that there is no separate existence of the living entities and the Supreme Absolute Truth. This is similar to the politician’s attempt to prove nonviolence from the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa is violent to demons, and to attempt to prove that Kṛṣṇa is not violent is ultimately to deny Kṛṣṇa. As such explanations of the Bhagavad-gītā are absurd, so also is Śaṅkarācārya’s explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra, and no sane and reasonable man will accept it. At present, however, the Vedānta-sūtra is misrepresented not only by the so-called Vedāntīs but also by other unscrupulous persons who are so degraded that they even recommend that sannyāsīs eat meat, fish and eggs. In this way, the so-called followers of Śaṅkara, the impersonalist Māyāvādīs, are sinking lower and lower. How can these degraded men explain the Vedānta-sūtra, which is the essence of all Vedic literature?

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has declared, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: “Anyone who hears commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra from the Māyāvāda school is completely doomed. (Cc Madhya 6.169)” As explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: all Vedic literature aims at understanding Kṛṣṇa. Māyāvāda philosophy, however, has deviated everyone from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there is a great need for the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world to save the world from degradation. Every intelligent and sane man must abandon the philosophical explanation of the Māyāvādīs and accept the explanation of Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. One should read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is to try to understand the real purport of the Vedas.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Aum is actually three letters – A, u and M. It means that A is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, U is His energies and M are the living entities. So thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and chanting Oṁ one goes back to Godhead. Unfortunately, Śaṅkarācārya, he neglected Oṁkāra and he said tat tvam asi as the mahā-vakya. But actually all the ācāryas say that the real mahā-vakya is Oṁkāra. So chanting the Oṁ or chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is recommended. But the Māyāvādīs they deviate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is why Lord Caitanya said listening to the Māyāvādī explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra, one is doomed. So, you may be wondering why such a long purport. Of course, this is very subtle, but Oṁ is considered most important. And some of the Māyāvādīs they override Oṁ. So this is a very important thing. But we see that everything comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is represented by A U M, Aum. Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote vidantī, danta means teeth and vi means no teeth, Vidantī means no teeth. So Māyāvāda makes no sense. So these people are misunderstanding that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not the real cause and they think the impersonal truth is the cause. So they believe in śuddha-advaita, pure oneness, and it confuses all people. So we should be very careful not to think of the impersonal truth. Unfortunately, the western philosophies based on Bible, Quran they kind of see the Absolute Truth to be impersonal. But in the Bible they say, Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. How do they find people are impersonal? So Lord Caitanya He is explaining to the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs the actual purpose of the Vedānta-sūtra. So this is shocking to the Māyāvādīs.

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7. 129

īśvara-vācya, praṇava—vācaka; ‘tattvamasyādi’—vedera ekāṁśa-dyotaka mātra:—

sarvāśraya īśvarera praṇava uddeśa 
‘tat tvam asi’—vākya haya vedera ekadeśa

Translation: “It is the purpose of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to present praṇava [oṁkāra] as the reservoir of all Vedic knowledge. The words ‘tat tvam asi’ are only a partial explanation of the Vedic knowledge.

Purport: Tat tvam asi means “you are the same spiritual identity.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So we can see how they are presenting tat tvam asi, that everyone is the Absolute Truth. So the Māyāvādīs would address each other as Nārāyaṇa. They are saying that everybody is God. So that is the why this deviation is so great.

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7. 130

‘praṇava’, mahā-vākya—tāhā kari’ ācchādana 
mahāvākye kari ’tat tvam asi’ra sthāpana

Translation: “Praṇava [oṁkāra] is the mahā-vākya [mahā-mantra] in the Vedas. Śaṅkarācārya’s followers cover this to stress without authority the mantra tat tvam asi.

Purport: The Māyāvādī philosophers stress the statements tat tvam asi, so ’ham, etc., but they do not stress the real mahā-mantra, praṇava (oṁkāra). Therefore, because they misrepresent Vedic knowledge, they are the greatest offenders to the lotus feet of the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: Wow! Offenders, the greatest! Caitanya Mahāprabhu says clearly, māyāvādī kṛṣṇe aparādhī: “Māyāvādī philosophers are the greatest offenders to Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa declares:

tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān 
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān/ āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu

“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among mankind, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.” (Bg. 16.19)

Life in demoniac species awaits the Māyāvādī philosophers after death because they are envious of Kṛṣṇa.

When Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.34)

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

(“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me”),

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7. 131

vedādi-śāstre abhidhā-vṛttite kṛṣṇai svīkṛta :—

sarva-veda-sūtre kare kṛṣṇera abhidhāna 
mukhya-vṛtti chāḍi’ kaila lakṣaṇā-vyākhyāna

Translation: “In all the Vedic sūtras and literatures, it is Lord Kṛṣṇa who is to be understood, but the followers of Śaṅkarācārya have covered the real meaning of the Vedas with indirect explanations.

Purport: It is said:

vede rāmāyaṇe caiva purāṇe bhārate tathā 
ādāv ante ca madhye ca hariḥ sarvatra gīyate

“In the Vedic literature, including the Rāmāyaṇa, Purāṇas and Mahābhārata, from the very beginning (ādau) to the end (ante ca), as well as within the middle (madhye ca), only Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is explained.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So beginning end and middle, Hari is being explained. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is being focused on. But the Māyāvādīs they avoid Hari or Kṛṣṇa. And they come up with impersonal interpretations. So we should be very careful not to subject ourselves to Śaṅkarācārya Māyāvādī vākya.

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7. 132

nirapekṣa śabdapramāṇai sarva-śreṣṭha :—

svataḥ-pramāṇa veda—pramāṇa-śiromaṇi 
lakṣaṇā karile svataḥ-pramāṇatā-hāni

Translation: “The self-evident Vedic literatures are the highest evidence of all, but if these literatures are interpreted, their self-evident nature is lost.

Purport: We quote Vedic evidence to support our statements, but if we interpret it according to our own judgment, the authority of the Vedic literature is rendered imperfect or useless. In other words, by interpreting the Vedic version one minimizes the value of Vedic evidence. When one quotes from Vedic literature, it is understood that the quotations are authoritative. How can one bring the authority under his own control? That is a case of principiis obsta.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see in discussions with the panḍitas they would quote different verses from the Vedas. And although those verses are considered as evidence but if one interprets the Vedas in the wrong way then the Vedas lose their importance. We find like Śrīla Prabhupāda he wrote Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, he would quote Bhagavad-gītā as it is. And Gītā was accepted as evidence. But Śaṅkarācārya in some ways he avoided the idea of the Vedas and that he created confusion. Because he was asked to do that by Kṛṣṇa. That is not his fault. He did that to bring back the Buddhists to the Vedas. We see one should hear from the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas – Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and not the Māyāvādīs.

Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7. 133

śaṅkarera vyākhyā lakṣaṇā-vṛttimūlā, sutarāṃ kālpanika :—

ei mata pratisūtre sahajārtha chāḍiyā 
gauṇārtha vyākhyā kare kalpanā kariyā

Translation: “To prove their philosophy, the members of the Māyāvāda school have given up the real, easily understood meaning of the Vedic literature and introduced indirect meanings based on their imaginative powers.”

Purport: Unfortunately, the Śaṅkarite interpretation has covered almost the entire world. Therefore there is a great need to present the original, easily understood natural import of the Vedic literature. We have therefore begun by presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and we propose to present all the Vedic literature in terms of the direct meaning of its words.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Māyāvādī Philosophers Stress ‘tat tvam asi’ to Cover the Real mahā-mantra ‘oṁkāra’

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Caitanya was presenting these arguments to the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. At last they could understand that what they had been studying was incorrect. Lord Caitanya was explaining the things in a very simple way. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he wanted to present the Vedas as it is. He was asked to comment on the Gītā that his followers could read. Although there were over 400 Gītās in English, he could not recommend anyone because the authors had changed things to show their own imaginative powers. And so Lord Caitanya, He met the digvijaya Keśava Kāśmīrī. He said He would like to hear his compositions glorifying the Ganges. So then Keśava Kāśmīrī started to compose hundred and eight verses. Lord Caitanya asked him could you please tell me the defects and the good qualities of your composition. He said, defects? There are no defects! My composition is perfect! Then Lord Caitanya He picked up one of the verses 57 or something. And He explained the good quality of that verse and then He explained some of the defects of that verse. And He said that you had said Lord Śiva had caught the Ganges on his head.

But the word he used was the husband of Bhava had caught the Ganges in his head. That was a little confusing, does that mean that Durgā had two husbands? Because He quoted Durgā husband. So like that He pointed out some defects. And Keśava Kāśmīrī praying to Sarasvatī and said, “Why did this youth defeat me? Why didn’t you save me?” And then Sarasvatī told him, “He is my husband. I cannot defend you against Him.” So, like this he realized that Lord Caitanya was Kṛṣṇa Himself. And then he went to the house of Lord Caitanya and offered his obeisances. And then he realized that who Lord Caitanya was. So Lord Caitanya wanted to defeat him in such a way that it was subtle because otherwise the paṇḍitas of Navadvīpa would steal his forces, his elephants. So after that he surrendered to Lord Caitanya and he became an ācārya in the Nimbārka school. So Lord Caitanya naturally He is the greatest scholar. But He was presenting Himself very humbly. But in His presentation He presenting that the Māyāvāda philosophy is defective. The Māyāvādīs use tat tvam asi but the real mahā-vākya is Oṁkāra.