20240731 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta 1.5. Inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

First shower — Fifth stream

Inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference

These six prameyas of 1. Kṛṣṇa, 2. energy of Kṛṣṇa, 3. mellows of Kṛṣṇa, 4. the nature of the living entity, 5. conditioned living entity, and 6. liberated living entity have been discussed in the previous streams. In this stream the relationship of inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference is being considered briefly. In this regard, I will convey the instructions of the Lord in advance. [audio break]

Jayapatākā Swami: [audio break] But She has different qualities. So you have the material energy, the spiritual energy, the cit-śakti, the pleasure potency. So Kṛṣṇa has unlimited energies. And He manifests the whole material world by His material energy. In His body there is a spark which is separated spiritual energy. So Kṛṣṇa, Nitāi Gaura, They come down to this material world in order to spread [audio break] The impersonalists, the Māyāvādīs, they want to prove impersonal truth is the origin of everything. And their theory is that Kṛṣṇa is in the mode of goodness. The Māyāvādīs are aparādhis. Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. He doesn’t change but He has unlimited energies which do His will. So He can never be understood by the Māyāvādīs. They want to merge into the brahma-jyoti. But the devotees, they never want this sāyujya-mukti. Sometimes the other forms of mukti are accepted by the devotees, if they can do some service to the Lord. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he is warning us not to desire or think the impersonal way.

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TEXT: Śakti-pariṇāmavāda–The philosophy of the transformation of the energy In the instructions to the sannyāsīs (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 7.121-126, 139-140), the Lord has said:

vyāsera sūtrete kahe ‘pariṇāma’-vāda
‘vyāsa bhrānta’ — bali’ tāra uṭhāila vivāda

pariṇāma-vāde īśvara hayena vikārī
eta kahi’ ‘vivarta’-vāda sthāpanā ye kari

vastutaḥ pariṇāma-vāda — sei se pramāṇa
dehe ātma-buddhi — ei vivartera sthāna

avicintya-śakti-yukta śrī-bhagavān
icchāya jagad-rūpe pāya pariṇāma

tathāpi acintya-śaktye haya avikārī
prākṛta cintāmaṇi tāhe dṛṣṭānta ye dhari

nānā ratna-rāśi haya cintāmaṇi haite
tathāpiha maṇi rahe svarūpe avikṛte

svarūpa-aiśvarye tāṅra nāhi māyā-gandha
sakala vedera haya bhagavān se ‘sambandha’

tāṅre ‘nirviśeṣa’ kahi, cic-chakti nā māni
ardha-svarūpa nā mānile pūrṇatā haya hāni

TEXT: In his Vedānta-sūtra Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described that everything is but a transformation of the energy of the Lord.

Note: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.28.40:

yatholmukād visphuliṅgād
dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt
apy ātmatvenābhimatād
yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt

TEXT: 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. Śaṅkarācārya, however, has misled the world by commenting that Vyāsadeva was mistaken. Thus he has raised great opposition to theism throughout the entire world. According to Śaṅkarācārya, 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.

Note: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.5.22–23:

kālād guṇa-vyatikaraḥ
pariṇāmaḥ svabhāvataḥ
karmaṇo janma mahataḥ
puruṣādhiṣṭhitād abhūt

mahatas tu vikurvāṇād
rajaḥ-sattvopabṛṁhitāt
tamaḥ-pradhānas tv abhavad
dravya-jñāna-kriyātmakaḥ

TEXT: After the incarnation of the first puruṣa [Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu], 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. 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. In His original form the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full with transcendental opulences, which are free from the contamination of the material world. It is to be understood that in all Vedic literature the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate goal. 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.

TEXT: Again, in the instruction to Sārvabhauma, the Lord has said (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 6.133-134):

upaniṣad-śabde yei mukhya artha haya
sei artha mukhya, — vyāsa-sūtre saba kaya

mukhyārtha chāḍiyā kara gauṇārtha kalpanā
‘abhidhā’-vṛtti chāḍi’ kara śabdera lakṣaṇā

TEXT: The Vedānta-sūtra is the summary of all the Upaniṣads; therefore, whatever direct meaning is there in the Upaniṣads is also recorded in the Vedānta-sūtra, or Vyāsa-sūtra. For each sūtra the direct meaning must be accepted without interpretation. However, you simply abandon the direct meaning and proceed with your imaginative interpretation.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see the Māyāvādīs, Śaṅkarācārya’s followers and he said that Vyāsadeva is mistaken. Here Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is saying that the Vedānta-sūtra is the culmination of all the Upaniṣads. So Lord Caitanya was telling Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya to just accept the direct meaning of the Vedas, the direct meaning of the Upaniṣads. Not that Vyāsadeva made a mistake. Lord Śiva was requested by Lord Viṣṇu to appear in Kali-yuga as a brāhmaṇa sannyāsī. And paste the Buddhist idea with the covering of the Vedas. So he was meant to bring back the Buddhists to the Vedas. In the seventh chapter of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Lord Caitanya converted the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. So the devotees should follow His example by quoting this. Here the similar thing is being quoted.

TEXT: In the instruction to the sannyāsīs, He has said further (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.128-130):

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

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

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

TEXT: 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. 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. 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’.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Śiva came as Śaṅkarācārya and he subtly changed all the instructions of the Vedas. Oṁ is the mahā-vakhya. But he said, tat tvam asi is the mahā-vākhya. ‘Tat tvam asi’ – ‘You Are That’, is not as complete as Oṁkāra. So he was trying to convince his followers that they were the impersonal Brahman. So the Māyāvādīs would greet each other, “Oh! Nārāyaṇa to be! Nārāyaṇa, impersonal Brahman, everybody, all are one.” We heard the story that one of the ISKCON sannyāsīs went to cross the Jalāṅgī River. One Māyāvādī there had a big turban on. To demonstrate how impractical the Māyāvādī philosophy is, he said put your turban in the water, it is all one! So, their philosophy is all is one, which is basically all nonsense.

Note: Bhagavad-gītā 17.23:

oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo
brahmaṇas tri-vidhaḥ smṛtaḥ

TEXT: From the beginning of creation, the three words oṁ tat sat were used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 7.106-110

prabhu kahe, vedānta-sūtra īśvara-vacana
vyāsa-rūpe kaila yāhā śrī-nārāyaṇa

bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, karaṇāpāṭava
īśvarera vākye nāhi doṣa ei saba

upaniṣat-sahita sūtra kahe yei tattva
mukhya-vṛttye sei artha parama mahattva

gauṇa-vṛttye yebā bhāṣya karila ācārya
tāhāra śravaṇe nāśa haya sarva kārya

tāṅhāra nāhika doṣa, īśvara-ājñā pāñā
gauṇārtha karila mukhya artha ācchādiyā

TEXT: “The Lord said, “Vedānta philosophy consists of words spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa in the form of Vyāsadeva. The material defects of mistakes, illusions, cheating and sensory inefficiency do not exist in the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Absolute Truth is described in the Upaniṣads and Brahma-sūtra, but one must understand the verses as they are. That is the supreme glory in understanding. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has described all the Vedic literatures in terms of indirect meanings. One who hears such explanations is ruined.”

Note:

Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 62.31:

svāgamaiḥ kalpitais tvaṁ ca
janān mad-vimukhān kuru
māṁ ca gopaya yena syāt
sṛṣṭir eṣottarottarā

“[Addressing Lord Śiva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead said:] ‘Please make the general populace averse to Me by imagining your own interpretation of the Vedas. Also, cover Me in such a way that people will take more interest in advancing material civilization just to propagate a population bereft of spiritual knowledge.”

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 7.111-114

‘brahma’-śabde mukhya arthe kahe — ‘bhagavān’
cid-aiśvarya-paripūrṇa, anūrdhva-samāna

tāṅhāra vibhūti, deha, — saba cid-ākāra
cid-vibhūti ācchādi’ tāṅre kahe ‘nirākāra’

cid-ānanda — teṅho, tāṅra sthāna, parivāra
tāṅre kahe — prākṛta-sattvera vikāra

tāṅra doṣa nāhi, teṅho ājñā-kārī dāsa
āra yei śune tāra haya sarva-nāśa

“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. Māyāvāda 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 Māyāvādī philosopher, due to ignorance, says that these are all merely transformations of the material mode of goodness. Śaṅkarācārya, who is an incarnation of Lord Śiva, is faultless because he is a servant carrying out the orders of the Lord. But those who follow his Māyāvādī philosophy are doomed. They will lose all their advancement in spiritual knowledge.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Śiva is Śaṅkarācārya, He is faultless because He is carrying out the orders of the Lord. But Lord Caitanya warned us that we should not listen to the interpretations of the Māyāvādīs. Because they twist the meanings. So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was teaching in the Māyāvādī philosophy. But Lord Caitanya listened to him and did not ask any question. So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya said why don’t You ask any question. Lord Caitanya said, “I understand the meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra but your commentary I don’t understand!” So, Lord Caitanya then gave the real, direct meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra. So then Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya realized that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself. And he asked Lord Caitanya to show His real form. And Lord Caitanya showed Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya His six-handed form. Lord Rāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya. Six hands. So, this part of the Śikṣāmṛta is to warn us about the impersonal Māyāvādī philosophy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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To all the devotees watching me on YouTube and Facebook and physically here –

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!