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Mithya means

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Mithyā means false.
Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

Then comes Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya preaches that "No, you are the consciousness only. You are the consciousness only, and this body is false." Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Mithyā means false. So you should always know that "I am Brahman, or the consciousness," and you should always reject that "I am not this body." That is another philosophy. Now, suppose, if I think for years together that "I am consciousness. I am consciousness. I am consciousness," do you think you shall be happy? Simply by understanding that "I am not this body. I am consciousness," will that help you? That will also not help you. Because if you simply theoretically say that "I am not this body," and because your consciousness is now attached with the body, you..., the consciousness is always active. So the consciousness must act through the body, and therefore your senses, you have to gratify your senses certainly. That is the real philosophy. You see? You cannot stop consciousness acting. It is very simple thing to understand it. Just, just think over, that the activity of my body is due to my consciousness. I am speaking because I am conscious that I am speaking. You are hearing because you are conscious that you are hearing. As soon as this consciousness is gone, neither you can hear, neither I can speak. So any activity, either hearing or speaking or moving or eating or seeing—anything. We have got different senses. We are active. Active means we are active with our senses. Mind, mind is the central point of activitizing (activating) the senses. That is our life. Life means the acting of the senses. And that, beyond, beyond that mind, there is consciousness. So if consciousness is gone, then what remains? Nothing remains. Therefore you cannot... Simply by thinking that "I am consciousness," oh, that will not also solve your problem. You have to engage your consciousness in the matter of the supreme consciousness.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Mithyā means false.
Lecture on SB 1.16.5 -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1974:

So we are not these so-called Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Why jagan mithyā? Mithyā means false. They say that jagan mithyā, this whole material world is false. We don't say false. We say it is temporary, and so long it is in use, you utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. That even this material world will be utilized for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this is our proposal. We don't reject anything. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī: prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. A thing which can be used for the service of Hari, Kṛṣṇa, if it is given up as material, that vairāgya, that renunciation, is not very good. That renunciation... "I have renounced everything..." Just like amongst the Jains, they will not ride on car, they'll walk. So our principle is not like that. "No, we shall not take advantage of the motorcar or the airplanes. These are all material. I shall walk." Why shall I walk? If I would not have taken the advantage of the airplanes, how I could preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world so swiftly? We must take all advantage, but for Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Mithyā means false.
Lecture on SB 2.3.10 -- Los Angeles, May 28, 1972:
Then where is the question of happiness? The karmīs cannot have happiness, because their method is to work hard. How they can be happy? Similarly, jñānīs, mokṣa-kāmaḥ. After being disgusted that "I worked so hard throughout my whole life. I could not get peace. Therefore it is false." Jagan mithyā. Mithyā means false. This is Śaṅkarācārya philosophy. Jagan mithyā. Mithyā means false. Brahma satyam. "Now let me search out where is Brahma and become one with him." That is also another labor. Speculating. They have to interpret all these Vedic literature to make God dead, void, impersonal, nullified. So they have to gather their arguments. That is another labor, hard labor. So they are also working hard. Yogis, they want to show some magic: "I can walk on the water. I can fly in the air without any airship. I can go this planet, that planet." Yogis can do that. They have got this magical power. "I can create immediately gold." And if you can show these magical feats, immediately you get so many... But that kind of yogi also very rare to be found, and now, in your country, yogi means who can show some gymnastics, that's all. So they are also working hard. Because they have got kāma. The yogi, he wants to be very popular by showing magic.
Mithyā means false. It is not false. It is truth, but you are using it in a false way. That is our philosophy.
Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

But we say that it is not mithyā. It is... Mithyā means false. It is not false. It is truth, but you are using it in a false way. That is our philosophy. This is the expansion of energy of Kṛṣṇa. So this energy, you are not utilizing for Kṛṣṇa, but you are utilizing the energy for your sense gratification. That is mistake. But otherwise, how it can be false? It is not false. It is creation of God. Mama... Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhiḥ, bhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). Me. It is Kṛṣṇa's energy. How Kṛṣṇa's energy can be false? If Kṛṣṇa is truth, Kṛṣṇa's energy is also truth. But it may... Just like the cloud. You cannot say the cloud is false. Cloud is fact, although it is temporary. The cloud does not remain in the sky permanently; it appears and again disappears. But when it appears there is rain, there is reaction of the rain, vegetation on the ground, on the field. How you can say it is false? But it is temporary. That is actual philosophy.

Mithyā means false.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- Honolulu, May 30, 1976:

So when Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān patityajya, sarva means "all." So generally, in the material world two things are going on. The karmīs are busy try to earn money for their sense gratification, and the jñānīs, they've given up the world as mithyā. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. "Brahman is truth, and this is all mithyā." So Kṛṣṇa said, "You give up all this business." Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vrāja: "You do everything for Me. That's all. Don't utilize the assets of the world for your sense gratification, neither you give it up as mithyā. Why mithyā? I've created." Why it should be mithyā? Mithyā means false. Whatever God has created, that is not false, everything. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness view is that everything created by God is not mithyā. It is fact. Everything is fact. We don't say unnecessarily, "This is mithyā. This is false." Why it is false? God is truth. If He has created anything, that is also truth. Why it should be false? That is Vaiṣṇava view. Truth does not come out of untruth. Truth comes from truth. Something comes from something; something does not come from nothing. This is voidism.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Mithyā means false.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.19-31 -- San Francisco, January 20, 1967:

Although they say that "We are monists, one," but they explain that this māyā is illusion. Māyā is temporary, and actually, everything is one. Eko brahma dvitīya nāsti. But the Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that "Yes... It is..." It is called viśiṣṭādvaitavāda. We also say, "Yes, one," but one in variety. There are varieties. We don't say that māyā is something external. Māyā is there. Māyā is there. It is not external. It may be inferior, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that material energy, the material nature is inferior. That does not mean infer... Some part of my body is inferior. That does not mean it has no existence. It is not mithyā. They say everything mithyā. Mithyā means false. So inferior part of my body there may be, but it is not false. Similarly, the māyā, māyā is not false. It is temporary.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Mithyā means it is a reflection or shadow. Mithyā does not mean that it has no existence.
Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:
Prabhupāda: A movie. Actually, the same man is laughing, walking, dress, everything, but it is all false. That they cannot understand. Therefore the Vaiṣṇavas say they are less intelligent. The real understanding should be that if in the real person all these features are not present, how they can be reflected in the photograph? The Māyāvādī says, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is real truth, and this world is mithyā. Then mithyā means it is a reflection or shadow. Mithyā does not mean that it has no existence. The shadow is also existence. Therefore Vaiṣṇava philosophers say that mithyā means temporary. Now you have got this body. This is temporary. That's the real understanding. And if I say it is mithyā, then if I kill you, then why I am punished? I can say, "Oh, it is mithyā, it is false. So what is their fault?" No. It is not mithyā. It is temporary. Not mithyā. Mithyā how can it be? Because it is reflection of the reality, therefore it cannot be mithyā. Then the reality becomes mithyā. Mithyā means not fact. The real explanation is that this is shadow. Shadow, but the reality is in the spiritual world, and that is indicated in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The fountainhead of all emanation. That is Absolute Truth.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Mithyā means false. We don't say false. We don't say that this book is false. It has got reality, but temporary.
Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Existence of thing... I say that at night, when I am dreaming, I do not see existence of these things. And at this time, in daytime, when I am seeing these things, I do not see the existence of the dream. So the conclusion should be both these things I see in daytime and I see at night, they have no existence. They are phenomenal. But I am the seer; I am eternal. I am existing. This is the proof. Because at night I am seeing and daytime I am seeing, so therefore I am eternal. But the phenomenal manifestation, they are temporary. We don't say it is false. Temporary. The Māyāvādī philo... Śaṅkara said it is false. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Mithyā means false. We don't say false. We don't say that this book is false. It has got reality, but temporary. This book has come into form at a certain date, and it will exist for certain days, and when it will be worn out or old, there will be no existence. Therefore the formation of this book is temporary. But I am the reader of the book; I am eternal. So two things are there, temporary and eternal. The temporary existence, somebody says, "False," but we say, "It is not false; it is temporary." But there is an eternal existence. Just like I am eternal. That is... We have to learn from śabda, vibration. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You understand Sanskrit. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). That eternal thing is existing, it will continue to exist. Even after the destruction of this temporary body, it will continue to exist.

Page Title:Mithya means
Compiler:Rishab, Serene
Created:11 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=2, Let=0
No. of Quotes:8