Controversy (Books)

Expressions researched:
"controverse" |"controversial" |"controversies" |"controversy" |"controverted"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

There is a common controversy over whether the Supreme Absolute Truth is personal or impersonal.

BG 7.7, Translation and Purport:

O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

There is a common controversy over whether the Supreme Absolute Truth is personal or impersonal. As far as Bhagavad-gītā is concerned, the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and this is confirmed in every step. In this verse, in particular, it is stressed that the Absolute Truth is a person. That the Personality of Godhead is the Supreme Absolute Truth is also the affirmation of the Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ; that is, the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the primeval Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, Govinda, and the eternal form of complete bliss and knowledge. These authorities leave no doubt that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person, the cause of all causes.

There are many controversies between the impersonalists and the personalists about the Lord's appearance as a human being.

BG 9.11, Purport:

There are many controversies between the impersonalists and the personalists about the Lord's appearance as a human being. But if we consult Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the authoritative texts for understanding the science of Kṛṣṇa, then we can understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is not an ordinary man, although He appeared on this earth as an ordinary human. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, First Chapter, when the sages headed by Śaunaka inquired about the activities of Kṛṣṇa, they said:

kṛtavān kila karmāṇi

saha rāmeṇa keśavaḥ

ati-martyāni bhagavān

gūḍhaḥ kapaṭa-māṇuṣaḥ

"Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with Balarāma, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts." (SB 1.1.20)

BG Chapters 13 - 18

Kṛṣṇa is explaining this most controversial point regarding the duality and nonduality of the soul and the Supersoul by referring to a scripture, the Vedānta, which is accepted as authority.

BG 13.5, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the highest authority in explaining this knowledge. Still, as a matter of course, learned scholars and standard authorities always give evidence from previous authorities. Kṛṣṇa is explaining this most controversial point regarding the duality and nonduality of the soul and the Supersoul by referring to a scripture, the Vedānta, which is accepted as authority. First He says, "This is according to different sages." As far as the sages are concerned, besides Himself, Vyāsadeva (the author of the Vedānta-sūtra) is a great sage, and in the Vedānta-sūtra duality is perfectly explained. And Vyāsadeva's father, Parāśara, is also a great sage, and he writes in his books of religiosity, aham tvaṁ ca tathānye. .. "we—you, I and the various other living entities—are all transcendental, although in material bodies. Now we are fallen into the ways of the three modes of material nature according to our different karma. As such, some are on higher levels, and some are in the lower nature. The higher and lower natures exist due to ignorance and are being manifested in an infinite number of living entities. But the Supersoul, which is infallible, is uncontaminated by the three qualities of nature and is transcendental."