According to Vedic civilization, one who does not follow the Vedic principle, he is called nāstik. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained about the Buddhist. Buddhists, they do not believe in the Vedic injunction. Or the Muslims. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika. Buddhists are called nāstik, atheist. Why? Veda nā māniyā: he does not believe in the Vedas.
- veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika
- vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda bauddhake adhika
- (CC Madhya 6.168)
But a person, hypocrite, who accepts the Vedas but he preaches atheism. . . Just like you are praying that śūnyavādi, nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi pāścātya deśa tāriṇe. These two, very dangerous position, nirviśeṣa. The Buddhists, they say there is no God—śūnyavādi. "Everything, at the end, everything is zero. You have got this body. When the body is finished, then everything becomes zero." Because they do not believe in the soul, not in God. There are many nāstik. Vasu bhūta sa dehasya kuta pūrna . . . (indistinct) . . . bhavet: "The body, I see it is burnt into ashes. Where is life? There is no life. There is no soul." So this is bauddhya-vāda, śūnyavāda—everything becomes zero.
And the vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda, the Māyāvādīs, they do not say there is no God, because in the Vedas there is God. So they do not say directly, but they say, "Yes, there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no hand. He cannot talk. He cannot eat." Then what remains? He is making zero, God, zero, by negative definition—"He has no head, He has no hand. He has no leg." So both of them are zero, advocate of zero. But one directly says, "No, there is no God. Everything is zero." And these Māyāvādīs, nirviśeṣa-vādi, they say the same thing—zero—but in a different way.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that these Māyāvādīs, zero-vādis, they are more dangerous than this bauddha. Vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda. All these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are very learned, but they'll never accept that God has form. They say it is kalpanā, it is imagination. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has designated them very, very dangerous, these Māyāvādīs. He has therefore strictly forbidden, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169): if you hear this Māyāvādī speaking, then your future is doomed. You are finished. Because as soon as you have become infected with the Māyāvāda philosophy, it will take millions of years to come to the platform of devotional service, it is so dangerous. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Sarva-nāśa means everything is finished when you become godless, or you think yourself as you are God. The Māyāvādī do that. They accept God, Kṛṣṇa as God, but Kṛṣṇa's body is māyā. He has assumed a form, with a body which is created by māyā, just like our body is created by māyā.