Mayavadis (Conversations 1976)

Expressions researched:
"Mayavadi" |"Mayavadi's" |"Mayavadin" |"Mayavadins" |"Mayavadis"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "Mayavadi" or "Mayavadis" or "Mayavadi's" or "Mayavadin" or "Mayavadins" not "Mayavad* philosopher*"@5 not "mayavadi sannyasi" not "mayavadi sannyasis" not "mayavadi sannyasa"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Keśavalāl Trivedi: Ahaṁ brahmāsmi I was not able to explain till I heard Swamijī on the first day at Rajeswara in Mandapur.(?) That fits in. Otherwise Māyāvādīns, "All right, but Śaṅkarācārya saying, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Why you say no?" Because so many persons ask me question. And when I was confronted, I was not able to say that. But the way the mukti was defined, mukti, yes, and in the lecture, and īṣa, sarveśa, all those things—ātmā, Paramātmā, aṁśa, Paramāṁśa—there I found that it can be explained. Because so many persons, they ask in public meeting like Lions Club, where we take up these topics. Then we feel at our wit's end. But now I think I can explain them.

Prabhupāda: So that day my explanation was all right?

Keśavalāl Trivedi: Yes, that is how I feel. And that is what will apply also to Acyutānanda Swami's question also, I think.

Acyutānanda: No, I'm just fencing.

Keśavalāl Trivedi: No, no, that's all.... I know.

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: One you are already. Because you are foolish, you cannot understand. That is abheda. I am not different. Just like my finger is not different from me. If the finger thinks, "I am different from the body," that is ignorance.

Yaśodānandana: Just as we say that ignorance consists of not understanding the difference between the jīva and the Paramātmā, the Māyāvādīs say that ignorance means to understand the difference between jīva and Paramātmā.

Prabhupāda: So then they difference. They admit that there is difference, if they say like that, that "There is difference."

Yaśodānandana: But they say that oneness, that is the real knowledge.

Prabhupāda: No, no. That's all right. But why they say "different"?

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So we admit that, that when we see that "I am separate from..." Then the same example: If the finger thinks that it is separate from the body, that is ignorance, because the finger is required by the body to serve the body. So if he thinks, "No, I'll not serve you because I am different," that is ignorance. That is ignorance. That is going on. These Māyāvādīs, they refuse to serve God. That is ignorance. If they are part and parcel of God or one with God, how you can refuse to serve? That is ignorant. Here the finger is my part and parcel of the body. It cannot refuse to serve. I say; immediately it comes. So if the finger thinks that "I am one. Why shall I serve the whole body?" that is ignorance. Cetana. Cetana means activity. So if I am one with God, then my activities should be simultaneously with God. That is oneness. I don't disagree. God says, "You do it." I disagree. God says, "You surrender unto Me," but I refuse. That is ignorance. If I am actually one with God, just I am asking, "You do this"—you do immediately.

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1976, Madras:

Prabhupāda: Oh, Sai Rāma.

Acyutānanda: Big Māyāvādī. And later on he had a very nice program for us. But the first day we visited—as I said, that he plays with snakes—so as we were leaving I said to Yaśodānandana Mahārāja, "I didn't see any snakes." He says, "Didn't you see that man on the āsana? (Prabhupāda laughs) That big one?"

Prabhupāda: That he said.

Yaśodānandana: That was just between ourselves.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Acyutānanda: Then he had a program with us, and he was chanting. He was a very nice man.

Yaśodānandana: He came and danced with us also.

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1976, Madras:

Prabhupāda: Everyone likes?

Yaśodānandana: Except the Māyāvādī.

Prabhupāda: There are many Māyāvādīs.

Yaśodānandana: They may not like, but they cannot prove the contrary. They cannot prove that Kṛṣṇa is not the Supreme.

Indian man (1): Even in cinema, when they see the picture of Kṛṣṇa, the audience will feel very happy.

Acyutānanda: Our cinema or on the outside?

Indian man (1): Ordinary cinemas also.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No, no. It is not inter... It is explanation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just like sometimes the smārtas, they argue that if you quote smṛti, it is not as good as śruti.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But smṛti... Just like the Māyāvādīs. They do not accept because their interpretation of Veda is different.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right. So they say that smṛti is an interpretation.

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They don't accept Bhagavad-gītā, many of them.

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So what is our answer to such persons?

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Ah. Anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, who knows Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. Otherwise all rascals. Why should you go to a rascal? Immediately you can understand he is guru who has fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He is guru. Others? They are all rascals. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Who has not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is under these four groups: duṣkṛtina, mūḍha, narādhama, māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. They may talk of so much knowledge, but they are rascal fools because they have not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. All the Māyāvādīs, they are all rascals. They have not surrendered. This is the test. Why don't you take lesson from Bhagavad-gītā? He is guru. One who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, one is servant of Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. That is the test. If you want to select a guru, you have to see "Whether this person is fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa?" Then he is guru. Huh? What is the definition of guru given by...? Why don't you read all these things?

Morning Walk -- February 26, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes, kṣīrā-cora. The prostitute-hunter is hīrā-cora, and he's a kṣīrā-cora. That's all.

Hari-śauri: (break) ...sense gratification that comes from renouncing like that, that's like the Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Eh?

Hari-śauri: By artificial renouncing everything, they're actually simply another form of sense gratification.

Prabhupāda: Not artificial. It is a process. We have to give up this sense gratification. Go through a process to trained up. Just like sometimes in the club there is artificial swimming. Is it not? Artificial swimming. That is not swimming. But to practice something.

Room Conversation With Radha-Damodara Sankirtana Party -- March 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: But for us there is nothing material. We have no such vision as "material" and "spiritual." Material means when we forget Kṛṣṇa's right. That is material. Everything is Kṛṣṇa's. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor; He is the enjoyer. So, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything Kṛṣṇa's. So when we forget Kṛṣṇa's right on everything, that is material. Otherwise there is nothing material; everything spiritual. Everything is generated by Kṛṣṇa's energies, and there are two energies, material energy and spiritual energy. So in the material energy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is less or nil. And in spiritual energy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is prominent and very acute. I think I give this example somewhere. Just like this nail, and just little below, there is skin. Both of them are my body, but in the skin there is sensation; in the nail there is no sensation. But both of them are coming from the same source, the body. Similarly, everything is Kṛṣṇa's. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. Everything is Bhagavān but appears like different to the different vision. Therefore we take everything.... kṛṣṇa-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. Everything..., in everything there is Kṛṣṇa's relationship. So there is no question of giving it up. Why shall I give it up? This is Kṛṣṇa's property. Why shall I give it up, prāpañcikatayā buddhyā, by mistaking it as material? Kṛṣṇa-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. So these Māyāvādīs, they say the brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "This material world is false, and Brahman is reality."

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is not possible.

Madhudviṣa: If the Māyāvādīs don't believe in the difference between the soul and the Supersoul, then how can they... What is their explanation of reincarnation?

Prabhupāda: They say that this is not incarnation, it is māyā. Just like the sky is covered in a pot, and as soon as the pot breaks, the sky mixes with the big sky. That's all. That is their theory.

Madhudviṣa: So therefore they say God is covered.

Prabhupāda: Not God. You are covered.

Pañcadraviḍa: But you are God, they say.

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Pañcadraviḍa: Then what is their reason for not becoming the biggest rascal? Why not become the biggest rascal? The pot's going to break anyway. What difference does it make? Why not become a big rascal and enjoy?

Madhudviṣa: Because the Māyāvādīs, they also perform some austerity and tapasya.

Prabhupāda: Just to break the pot. That is their (indistinct)

Madhudviṣa: But what is the breaking of the pot?

Lokanātha: The pot doesn't refer to the body but the illusion. They want to get rid of not the body but the illusion.

Prabhupāda: No, illusion in this sense, that I am covered by the pot, it will break or I shall break, and when it is broken then there is no more pot. I become one with the sky.

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. If he would have approached a devotee, he'd have known this long ago. That man must be Māyāvādī, with whom he is associating.

Pañcadraviḍa: They cannot give anything.

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī-bhāṣya sunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169), finished—his spiritual progress is finished if he associates with a Māyāvādī.

Madhudviṣa: It says in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, even if we look upon the face of a pāṣaṇḍī, we should jump in the river with all our clothes on to become immediately purified, what to speak of giving any aural reception to them. But then again we see that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu listened, you know, attentively for so many hours to Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and also Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. How is it can we understand...?

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not?

Madhudviṣa: We can also listen to the Māyāvādīs and then defeat them like that?

Prabhupāda: If you are so qualified like Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Madhudviṣa: (laughs) Otherwise we should...

Prabhupāda: Otherwise you will be captured.

Madhudviṣa: Otherwise we shouldn't listen.

Prabhupāda: No.

Jayādvaita: In America that's called giving someone enough rope to hang himself.

Prabhupāda: Mm.

Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:

Indian: These Māyāvādīs reject it, that the body is not...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ, mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo. The Māyāvādī says the whole material world is false. We do not say that.

Indian (2): We say both are right, parā and aparā.

Prabhupāda: We do not say. We say this material world also the energy of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). He claims, "It is Mine," so how you can reject it? We cannot say anything Kṛṣṇa's is false. There is some purpose. I give this example, this finger: here is sensation, and here is no sensation. But both of them belongs to my body. Matter means where there is no Kṛṣṇa sensation. That is matter. And as soon as there is Kṛṣṇa sensation, it is spirit. Our Gosvāmīs' formula is that. Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. Everything has got relation with Kṛṣṇa. So.... Eh?

Morning Walk -- April 17, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: I am not student of literature like you.

Prabhupāda: Nothing can exist.... mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. So everything is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Where is not Kṛṣṇa? But the Māyāvādī says, "Everything is Kṛṣṇa; therefore let me worship the sand." That is rascaldom. "What is the use of going to the temple? Let me worship the sand." That is rascaldom. Kṛṣṇa says clearly, therefore,

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ

jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni

na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

(BG 9.4)

Dr. Patel: Na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ means no more important.(?)

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: So I look a fool and they'll become wise, all of them, eh?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. You are wise.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: To accept Kṛṣṇa as father means "My father is there. I have no anxiety." And if you accept Kṛṣṇa as your son, then you are full of Kṛṣṇa anxiety. This is the philosophy. And these Māyāvādīs, they cannot understand. They think that Kṛṣṇa is born of this father and mother, how He is God? But they do not know the philosophy.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They talk of śānti.

Prabhupāda: Mother Yaśodā is always anxious. "Kṛṣṇa is crawling. Whether He is falling down in some water or some monkey has come, hurting Him, or...?" Always. Or "He is touching some fire." Always anxiety. And besides that, the demons are coming. So this is perfection. Always remain in anxiety for Kṛṣṇa.

Guru-kṛpā: (break) They just think, na śocati na kāṅkṣati.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī rascal, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has condemned them, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If you hear Māyāvādī association, then your bhakti life is finished. Don't touch them. (break) Still, they are little more than the karmīs. (break) ...this place they are dragged through this, what is called? Short grass? Through this.

Devotee (1): That is anxiety, Śrīla Prabhupāda. That is anxiety, when one goes to Yamarāja and has to face.

Prabhupāda: That is the result of material anxiety. (break) To become anxiety-less, no more anxiety. That is nonsense.

Guru-kṛpā: They say, "Kṛṣṇa says, na śocati na kāṅkṣati."

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Guru-kṛpā: Na śocati na kāṅkṣati.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And this is negation. Just like one man is diseased. He is also eating, he is also sleeping, but that is not healthy eating, sleeping. He has to get relief from this eating, lying down on the bed and eating by some instrument. This nonsense eating, sleeping should be stopped. And when he's healthy, he eats also, sleeps also. That is different. That is different eating, sleeping, but they do not.... He is suffering from disease. He thinks, "Again eating? Make it zero. Make it zero." This is Māyāvādī. He has no taste what is the other eating. He wants to make it zero because here the eating is so botheration, "Oh, let me commit suicide. Make it zero." So that is Buddha philosophy.

Guru-kṛpā: Sour grapes.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So we see sometimes that the Māyāvādīs, they have perhaps given up the affairs of this world, but still, they remain envious, inimical towards Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Then?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So, how...

Prabhupāda: What he has given up? (laughter) What he has given up? You say he has given up; what he has given up? "I have given up everything, but I remain proprietor." What is this, given up? There is not, no "given up." The contradiction's there. One who has given up, what he has given up? He has not given up his personality. Then what he has given up? In Bengali it says that rasamba sataya chaibe tyāga,(?) (indistinct) that "In the room, whatever is there, it is yours. But I lock it, I keep the key." (laughter) (Bengali) "I have given up." What you have given up? You have kept the keys. So we have to accept that he's given up? This is another foolishness. (break) So the first question will be, "You rascal, what you have got in your possession that you are giving up? If you have something, then you can give up. What you have got, first of all tell me. You haven't got anything. Even this body is not yours.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: ...production of is external. Bahir-aṅga-śakti. But the śakti, the energy, is coming from the Supreme. Just like here we find this place is shadow and that place is sunshine. Both these places are due to the sun. When there is no sun there is no such distinction that "This is shining, sunny, and this is shadow." So this distinction is there so long we do not know the real source. But if we know the real source, we can understand that this distinction is temporary. Actually the energy is coming from the Supreme. So shadow has come from Supreme, and light has also come from the Supreme. So there is no distinction, ultimately. Just like earring, golden, manufactured from gold, and gold which is not manufactured. So this distinction-manufactured or not manufactured, secondary. But really the earring is also gold, and the lump of gold is also gold. So why should we say that earring is false? It is also gold. In relationship with the supreme source, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), there is no such distinction. In another place, while Vyāsadeva was instructed by Nārada, he said, idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaro. This viśva, the virāṭ-rūpa, is also Bhagavān, but it appears different from Him. Just like the shadow appears different from the sunshine, but actually, taking the central point of emanation, it is different manifestation. That's all. Tree—there are so many varieties. One is trunk, one is branch, one is twig, one is leaf, one is.... So the varieties are there, but the tree is one, the root. So ultimately there is no variety, only one. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. The difference is the Māyāvādīs, they abruptly say everything is one. Not everything is one.

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: He was so kind, but still there was distinction. When He was taking prasādam, personal associates, they were sitting with Him. Is it not? So this is called maryādā. Maryādā means honor. That must... Varieties must be there. Otherwise we become Māyāvādīs—everything is equal, all one. This is Māyāvāda philosophy. No varieties. There must be variety. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And as soon as you make it varietyless, all equal, that is Māyāvāda. Just see even in this flower, this is also flower and this is also flower. Does it mean they are of the same rank? This is understanding. Together they look very beautiful, but if you take separate value, then it is valuable than this flower. That distinction must be there. If somebody says "I am accepting even the leaf in this garland," then what to speak of rose? It is like that. Kṛṣṇa says that. That does not mean leaf and rose have the same value. One is making a beautiful garland, "I am accepting everything."

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: So if you understand Kṛṣṇa you can understand everything. And as soon as you say that you have not understood it, therefore you have not understood Kṛṣṇa. They cannot understand, just like Māyāvādīs, they do not understand Kṛṣṇa, therefore they do not understand Brahman also. And therefore they fall down, because they have not understood either Brahman or Kṛṣṇa. Patanty adhaḥ. This is stated in the śāstra. Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ, because they have not understood Kṛṣṇa, even they have gone up to the Brahman, they cannot stand there; they fall down. Again they come to the material world. The Māyāvādīs, they say, brahma satyma jagan mithyā, "Brahman is truth, and this material world is false." They take sannyāsa, but after some time they fall down, again take to other businesses than Brahman in the material world. Just like our Vivekananda. He came to the Western countries to preach Vedānta, and he has advertised that "Whole America has become Vedantist." The proof of Vedānta is when he returned to India he became very enthusiastic to open hospitals like the Christian missionaries. So if the material world is false, so why he's trying to open hospitals? Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Jagat is mithyā. So why in the mithyā platform he's taking credit by opening hospitals?

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: So you cannot stop the suffering. You are unable. You are also suffering from the same disease. So don't say that jagat mithyā. If they are suffering, that's a fact. Then how do you say it is mithyā, it is false? If it is mithyā, then why you are affected by the suffering? There are so many questions. That means not realization. Contradictory. If you feel the suffering, then why you call it mithyā? It is fact. Why do you say it is mithyā? That means you have no realization. You are accepting suffering as mithyā. We say suffering is not mithyā, it is fact, but if you want to save from suffering, then you get out of this material world. We don't say that, that suffering is mithyā or this world is mithyā. We don't say that. We are offering this flower to Kṛṣṇa, not as mithyā; it is a means of service. Why shall I say it is mithyā? By offering... Kṛṣṇa says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). By offering a little flower. How can I say this is mithyā? Māyāvādī's philosophy, it is mithyā. With mithyā we can approach the satya? By hundreds of false we can make one truth? Kṛṣṇa says that "If you offer Me a little flower," so how can I say this is mithyā? It is not mithyā. It is satya. When it is satya? When it is offered to Kṛṣṇa.

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Gradual process, just like you are here in the sunshine. So if you are intelligent, you'll understand that the temperature in the sunshine and the temperature in the sun globe is different. So Brahman understanding is the lowest stage. Paramātmā understanding little higher. And Bhagavān understanding is complete. That is gradual. And these Māyāvādīs, they do not try to understand Kṛṣṇa. They are satisfied only with understanding Brahman. Therefore they fall down. Arūhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta (SB 10.2.32). Because there is no standing. The impersonal feature, that the sky... Go very high in the sky, you do not see anymore this planet earth, neither you see anything, you'll be mad. Then you will find out how to go back again. You cannot stay there in that condition. Although they say "so'ham," no, you cannot stay there. Just imagine, if you go very high and you do not see any other thing, only sky. Will you be able to stay in that condition? You go in the sea.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: If there is rock, if there is sand, then why don't you colonise there? What is their answer? If there is same sand, same rock there, then why not... (break) ...some money and can bring some sand and bluff people that you have gone to moon planet. And people are satisfied, they're paying for another excursion to the Mars. This is going on. If you have gone there, there is land. If you fly in the sky and if you get a land then you can stay there. And because you cannot stay there, you come back again. So their... The Māyāvādīs position is there, āruhya kṛcchreṇa param, they merge into the impersonal Brahman but there is no place to stay, they come down again to this material world. You may go many thousands and millions of miles in the sky but you want to stay somewhere. But if you cannot get any place to stay then again you come to this Moscow and New York. So our enquiry is that if you have gone there, then why don't you stay there? What is the answer? Hm? Kīrtanānanda Maharaj?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So if he's eternal fragmental parts, how he can become one with the whole? The part is never equal to the whole. That is axiomatic truth. This is wrong conception, to become like God. The Māyāvādīs, they are trying to become God. That is impossible. They... Let them remain godly. Godly means servant of God. That will make him perfection, his life perfect. Vaiṣṇava philosophy is to remain, to act as servant of God. That is perfect. And if the servant tries to become like the master, that is artificial. Although in the spiritual world there is no difference between the master and the servant... Just like the boys, Kṛṣṇa's cowherd boy friends, they do not know Kṛṣṇa is God. They are playing with Him on equal terms. When Kṛṣṇa is defeated in the play He has to take His friend on His shoulder and he rides on the shoulder. So there is no such distinction who is God and who is not God. So that is spiritual conception. But the difference is always there. God and the part and parcel. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. We can attain that position after many, many lives' pious activities. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And His dhāma, His abode, Vṛndāvana, is also worshipable. They are equal. Vṛndāvana-dhāma and Kṛṣṇa, they are equal. So these are higher standard of understanding. Unless one is devotee, purified, he cannot understand that to become one with God is not the sublime idea. In Vṛndāvana one who wants to become the father or mother of God, to control God, that these Māyāvādīs cannot understand, Advaitavādīs. This is to be understood by the pure devotion, devotees. What is the benefit to become equal with God? Just become.... equal.... Other Vaiṣṇava philosophies they could not explain our relationship with God. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained the higher relationship with God. That is called vatsalya-rasa and madhurya-rasa. Especially madhurya-rasa. Anarpita carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatirṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojvala-rasāṁ sva bhakti śriyam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave information of the madhurya-rasa, that our relationship can be with Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: They hate Rāmānujācārya because he's Vaiṣṇava.

Hari-śauri: Because he doesn't allow them to speculate.

Prabhupāda: He is very strict. He is a stubborn enemy of Śaṅkarācārya. All the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, declare it: māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If you hear the interpretation of Māyāvādīs, then you are doomed. You have no hope for spiritual advancement. This is the statement. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Finished, your spiritual life is finished. You can write this also, that Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction is strictly to avoid the so-called Vedantists.

Hari-śauri: All these impersonalists, they always represent themselves as being big Vedantists. They don't know anything.

Prabhupāda: And people, leaders of India, they are thinking, "Where is this Vedantist?" In foreign countries, what is their position?

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Therefore not physical. This is definition by negation. In the logic, there is a process of definition by negation. The Māyāvādīs, they define this Brahman, neti, neti, neti, neti, negation. "It is not this, it is not this." What is, that they cannot tell. They simply negate. That is a partial definition. Yes, go on.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And the third point, lacks—in matter column—lacks specific inherent complex form, and life column has a specific complex form and activity by nature. Now here we are talking about complex form. Normally the matter itself is very simple by nature, but life tends, when the living entity is in a living body, the matter itself is also very complex when it is associated with life. But matter per se is a very simple, simple structure.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: How can you say, though, that the soul has a complex form?

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Dr. Sukla: Māyāvādīs like Swami Vivekananda, he questions "Who was Lord Kṛṣṇa?" Was Kṛṣṇa King of Dvārakā or anybody else, he don't know even that.

Prabhupāda: He's a fool. He does not know, therefore other does not know. It is not the fact. He's a fool, he does not know.

Dr. Sukla: He does not know. He said that Gītā is karma-yoga, and writes volumes and volumes...

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is his foolishness. Gītā is completely bhakti-yoga. Sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Everything is finished. And what is karma-yoga? What is karma-yoga?

Dr. Sukla: According to these Māyāvādīs...

Prabhupāda: Not according, according to Bhagavad-gītā.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: For Kṛṣṇa, yes. So that is bhakti-yoga. Yat karoṣi kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. That is bhakti. Karma-yoga means bhakti. That is the difficulty, that these Māyāvādīs, they have killed India's Vedic civilization. Now India is atheist. Very tragic position.

Dr. Sukla: What are your plans for India?

Prabhupāda: We are pushing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is being appreciated. It will take some time. Because so much mischievous activities have been done by the Māyāvādīs, to counteract, it will take some time. They are simply mischievous. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has rejected them. Māyāvādī bhāṣya sunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If one takes the Māyāvādī version of the śāstras, then his spiritual life is finished. He becomes atheist. His spiritual life is finished. Now what is the contribution? You talked about Vivekananda, what is his contribution?

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15)?

Guest (3): The Māyāvādīs say that Vedānta is impersonal, and (indistinct) Vedānta...

Prabhupāda: You do not know what is Vedānta. (indistinct) In the beginning of Vedānta, athāto brahma jijñāsā. "Now try to inquire about this Supreme, (indistinct) Brahman." The next verse is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), Brahman is there, from whom everything emanates. So now, what is that thing from which everything emanates? What is the nature of that thing? That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhāgavatam is the real explanation of Veda. Brahma-sūtra, (indistinct) mahasyam brahma-sūtrānāṁ vedasya parividyatam (?), this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, vedasya parividyatam, (indistinct) avyayam, brahma-sūtrasya (?) uvaca, by Vyāsadeva himself. Vyāsadeva is the writer of Vedānta-sūtra, so he's writing himself under the instruction of Nārada. So to understand Vedānta, you have to study Bhāgavatam. He's explained janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Brahman is the original source of everything. Janmādy asya yataḥ. So what is the nature? Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca... (end)

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So God is great. Now we have to analyze what is the greatness. A man is supposed to be great when he is very rich. A man is supposed to be great when he is very wise, man of knowledge, strength, reputation. So item by item, you analyze and see, you'll see Kṛṣṇa is the greatest. By reasoning. Therefore He is God. They have been analyzed. You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, the Gosvāmīs have analyzed the characteristics of Kṛṣṇa, and they found Him the greatest. So if God is great, and He is the greatest, then He is God. How can you deny it? At least, we can see in the Bhagavad-gītā, the little knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa, it is still standing as the greatest. Five thousand years past, nobody could give such a book of knowledge throughout the whole world. The Bhagavad-gītā is studied not only by the Indians and Hindus but by all scholars of the world. Even such persons who think that there is somebody greater than Kṛṣṇa, they also read Bhagavad-gītā and they recite from the Bhagavad-gītā. Even Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the Māyāvādīs, he says Bhagavad-gītā kiñcid adhītā. Is it not? Does he not say?

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So you don't take simply Jagannātha temple. There are many other temples, they allow. It is a particular management body, they do not allow. But that is not the sanction of the śāstra. That is not the sanction. Suppose in your private house you make some private law. That is your business. But actually temple is open for everyone. That is stated. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Even one is born of low-grade family, he can accept. There is no injunction. That is śāstra. But there are rascals who do not follow. They have their own imagination. That is another thing. Kṛṣṇa never said that "Only the brāhmaṇas or Indians or Hindus can take shelter of Me." Kṛṣṇa never said. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ, whatever he may be. There is no restriction. Just like Ganges water, anyone can take bath. It is not that only a particular person or particular community can take bath. Anyone can take, and he becomes purified. There is an example, na hi harate jyotsnā candraś caṇḍāla veśmani.(?) When there is moonlight, there is no discrimination that here is a bhaṅgi's house, caṇḍāla's house, there should be no moonshine. The moonshine is open in the palace of the king or in the house of a caṇḍāla, na hi harate jyotsnā candraś caṇḍāla veśmani. So Kṛṣṇa's mercy is for everyone. It is not restricted to a certain community or class of people, no. Anyone can take advantage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And that is, practically they are doing. Therefore in India, so they say that I am killing Hindu dharma, the Māyāvādīs, that Bhaktivedanta Swami hindu-dharma ka naṣṭa.

Morning Walk -- July 9, 1976, Washington D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...it would be very easy to defeat Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because they claim that they are Vedantists.

Prabhupāda: They are nonsense.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they have no bhakti, so we are in the line of Bhaktivedanta, so he said, that this is the way to counteract the so-called Māyāvādīs or Vedantists.

Prabhupāda: They're atheist. More than atheist. They have been described by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as more dangerous than the atheist. Vede nāmāniyā bauddha hoila nāstika, vedāśraya nāstikavāda bauddha ke ādi. They take the shelter of Vedas and preach atheism.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Huh? Ukta, ukta means "said." And sadbhiḥ, "by great personalities." Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas **, tathā, and "accordingly," tathā means "accordingly," bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ, those who are actually in transcendental platform, they should accept it. So why? Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva... It does not mean Māyāvādī, that he has become God. But kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya, he is the most confidential servant. He's therefore servant-God. He's God, servant-God. God is master-God. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. So why he has become priya? That is, Kṛṣṇa says personally, na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ: (BG 18.69) nobody is dearer than him in the whole world. Why? Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidā... (Bg 18.68). "Who preaches this gospel of Bhagavad-gītā among My devotees." So the guru has got two business. He has to make devotees and teach them the principles of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore he's so dear. Not that he has become God, not Māyāvādī philosophy. He's living entity, but because he acts very confidentially on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, therefore he's as good as God. This is bhakti. Not the Māyāvādī philosophy that guru has become God. Guru as God, not become. He's servant-God.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, everything is devotional. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23), there are varieties. We are not Māyāvādī, impersonalists, finished, all business. It is not like that. So whatever business is going on in our movement, everything should be taught according to the capacity, boys or girls, it doesn't matter. Some department is suitable for the boys, some department are suitable for the girls. In this way, they should be trained up. But everyone should be trained up to give service. That is Gurukula. And brahmacārī, this sex impulse should be controlled. That ruins the whole character. Our big, big sannyāsīs are becoming victimized. So that is the danger. Woman is good, man is good; when they combine together, bad. This is the material world. Both of them are good, but when they combine together, they are bad. This is material world. In the spiritual world, there is no such combination of sense gratification. Therefore it is always good. Everyone is part and parcel of God. So they are good. In the spiritual world, they combine together, it becomes bad, in the material world. In the spiritual world there is no such combination of sense gratification.

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: There is a little difference between God and Godhead.

Yogeśvara: So when we will have to try to find...

Prabhupāda: Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Īśvara, more or less everyone, but īśvaraḥ paramaḥ, that is Godhead. The Māyāvādīs, they do not distinguish between one īśvara to another īśvara. That may be on the ordinary level, but there is parama īśvara.

Yogeśvara: One possibility would be to say God the Supreme Person is light. That we can translate.

Prabhupāda: God means Supreme Person. But these advaitavādī, Māyāvādīs, they have made God everyone. God means Supreme Person, that is the dictionary word. "Supreme Being." That is the dictionary meaning. God does not mean ordinary, but they have made ordinary, anyone God. "I am God, you are God, he is God." Then what is meaning of God?

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Oh, they couldn't. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). This is the verse. Religion means the words given by God. But they have no idea what is God, whether He can speak or He's a dull, dumb. That is the difficulty. The Māyāvādīs, they say God has no mouth. So how He will speak? He has no eyes, He has no ears. Then who will hear my prayer? That is Māyāvādī definition. But Vedas say apāni-pādo javana gṛhīta.(?) That both things, that He has no leg, but he can walk faster than anyone. He has no ear, but He can hear everything. Just like we have got this ear, but I cannot hear what is going on next room. But God has no ear, but He can hear here, there, everywhere. This is Vedic definition. This is Vedic definition. Śṛṇoti akarṇa. He has no ears, but He hears everything. That means that it is not the fact that He has no ear, but He has no limited ear like me. And therefore described sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). You cannot compare with this body. Because sat means eternal. So this body is not eternal. So when God has no body means He hasn't got a body like this. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.

Evening Darsana -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the cause we are selling six lakhs of rupees' worth books daily. They understand it is not so-called religious sentiment, it is science. Our so-called swamis and yogis, they never tried. They did not know. Also big, big swamis, they went there. Instead of teaching them, he was taught how to eat meat. Sannyāsī eating meat. He was convinced, "Yes, why not?" At least, in India still, the sannyāsīs they do not eat meat. Except that rascal missionary. No one. There may be difference of opinion, Māyāvādīs. But their behavior is the same.

Indian man: Sadācāra.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That Mādhavendra Purī or somebody delivered to Vallabhācārya. Mādhavendra Purī is not possible, somebody else. (break) Dvārakā Śaṅkarācārya, he's a Māyāvādī, and he'll give Bhāgavata?

Acyutānanda: No, he's just going to give blessings to the... He's presiding, I guess. (break)

Prabhupāda: That is also complete like this?

Saurabha: Yes. The other side we are making one special room for you on the roof. So...

Prabhupāda: One special room like this? No.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Acyutānanda: They say how this is the instructions for how Bhāgavata should be read in seven days up to this canto.

Prabhupāda: Gītā Press was Māyāvādī. (break)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This lady? That man there? He's our accountant, Mr. Krishna. He lives with us full time. He's doing very good service.

Vāsughoṣa: About two months ago in Hyderabad they had a very big Bhāgavata-saptāha. One thousand and eight brāhmaṇas chanting Bhāgavatam for seven days, and it was presided over by a big Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, Rāmānuja-sampradāya. And all the local Marwaris, they gave lakhs of rupees for prasādam and so many things.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They hurt our collection, I think.

Evening Darsana -- August 15, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Did you go to Bangkok?

Woman: No, I'm going very soon.

Prabhupāda: (converses in Hindi) Indian Māyāvādīs are more dangerous. (Hindi) Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Anyone who is influenced by Māyāvādī, he's doomed. He's finished. No more spiritual knowledge. He's doomed.

Indian: How far the study of the scriptures helps us in being Kṛṣṇa conscious?

Prabhupāda: You read Bhagavad-gītā. That is the essence of all scriptures. And follow it. It is, from the very beginning to the end, it is simply helping you. You haven't got to read many literatures. Just like those American, European boys, they are with me for the last, at most seven, eight years. Otherwise, three years, four years. So how are they becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious? It is not at all difficult. They are accepting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and becoming perfect. But in India: "Why shall I become Kṛṣṇa conscious?

Evening Darsana -- August 15, 1976, Bombay:

Indian: Māyāvādī?

Prabhupāda: Māyayā apahṛta-jñāna. Māyā (Hindi) Who is very, very much under the influence of māyā, he is Māyāvādī. Unless he is too much under the influence of māyā, how he can say that "I'm God"? Which is impossible. (Hindi) So many things which makes one rāja, and if you simply imagine, "I am rāja. "So how much rascal he is. Just see. Mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). (Hindi) Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If one follow the Māyāvādīs and thinks that "I am God," then he is finished. His future is finished. (long conversation in Hindi)

Indian: He can be fearless, free.

Meeting with Endowments Commissioner -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: That is your duty. That is government's duty, that nothing is misused, nothing is misrepresented. But we know how to execute the mission of Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can know because direction is there. It is not a secret thing. It is open secret. But you have to act upon it. That requires training. And so far my experience goes, the whole world will take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately, I am struggling single-handed. And they are criticizing me in the Parliament. You have seen the recent article Blitz against me? What is that heading? "Ungodly face." I am doing ungodly? But they are advertising like that. Trying to make me unpopular. The Māyāvādīs, they say that Bhaktivedanta Swami is ruining Hinduism. They are saying like that. (Hindi) So I am being criticized in Parliament, I am criticized by the so-called jagad-gurus who have never seen what is jagat. And so on, so on.

Minister: No, for a country suffering from multiplicity of gods, Hinduism, you are doing a very great service, asking them to concentrate on Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That is only God. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Room Conversation -- August 25, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: But Māyāvādī philosophy is that you offer upāsana now and when you are perfect you become one.

Indian man (2): Not one. I mean you merge with one. Not you become one. You merge with one.

Prabhupāda: Then there is no advaita-vāda. There is dvaita-vāda. Two. There is no advaita-vāda. If you accept that you remain different, then there is no advaita.

Indian man (2): We don't dare do you see, ācchā, at a particular stage you like to merge with Him?

Prabhupāda: Meeting, I am meeting you. That does not mean we have become one. You are meeting me, I am meeting you. So we are different.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: All right. I will take rest.

Hari-śauri: You want to keep this?

Prabhupāda: No, no. (break—moves to garden)

Hari-śauri: They're all Māyāvādīs. He was just...

Pradyumna: I was just underlining that thing and...

Prabhupāda: So you write. I've already told you. I cannot speak now. You write. I have given you already hints.

Pradyumna: Avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannam. He says, "I come from the formless." But Kṛṣṇa says anyone who says that is abuddhayaḥ.

Room Conversation (Bullock Cart SKP) -- September 12, 1976, Vrndavana:

Indian boy: (Hindi)

Lokanātha: Saint Tukārāma.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Saint Tukārāma. He's a great saint. He is Māyāvādī or Vaiṣṇava?

Lokanātha: Tukārāma is Vaiṣṇava.

Prabhupāda: Oh! Tukārāma is Vaiṣṇava.

Lokanātha: But this is different. Tukārāma met Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Mylapur(?).

Prabhupāda: Yes. Tukārāma is a disciple of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Then it is in order. What is the...

Indian man: (Recites Sanskrit)

Lokanātha: It's a very nice question.

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Pradyumna: "Therefore your claim for full power is completely false..."

Prabhupāda: And blasphemous. In this way find out.

Pradyumna: Completely Māyāvādī.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: Completely.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: Now someone may bring up the one point, they say "Well, if an avatāra comes if he must show all kinds of great opulences and powers, then he says sometimes the incarnation shows this, but sometimes, like when Lord Caitanya appeared He didn't show viśvarūpa or..."

Room Conversation -- September 17, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He's seeing every particular thing, anywhere. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu. I can see within my limit, or I can feel pains and pleasure within my... But He knows everything, everywhere. Sarva-kṣetreṣu. And because I cannot become like Him, therefore Māyāvādīs say kalpana, "This is imagination." He wants to make God like himself, and he wants to become like God. Therefore all description about God he thinks imagination, kalpana. Kalpana. Dr. Frog. Huh? More than this water, the...? How it is possible? Atlantic Ocean, very very big. What is that big? Maybe four feet, five, yes. Otherwise kalpana. It it is not within his "feet" estimation, then he's kalpana, imagination. This is their knowledge. (indistinct) I can think of three feet, four feet, five feet, ten feet, hundred feet-like that. And when I'm informed, "No, no, it is unlimited feet." Ah, this is kalpana. This is going on. So what other news? I have to send one letter to the governor. (break) Sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ. Yathā hi sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ samādiśan vipra mahad-guṇas tathā. Where this class of literature is now. Yathā sūtyām, in the maternity home or maternity room, Sūtyām.

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Faith with good knowledge, that is nice. If you have good knowledge of Kṛṣṇa and you have faith, that is very good. But if you... Just like Māyāvādīs, they say, "Imagine Kṛṣṇa as God." They say, "Imagine."

Doctor: That is no good.

Prabhupāda: They are no good. Kalpana. They say, kalpana. Sādhakānāṁ gitarthaya(?) brahma-rūpa-kalpana. Rūpa-kalpana. But Kṛṣṇa's rūpa is not kalpana. It is fact. So kalpana is not faith, it is blind. Let me imagine some form of Kṛṣṇa. And therefore gradually, they come down to the position that any form you imagine as God, that is all right. They have come to this degradation.

Doctor: That you can, any form...

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Otherwise who cares for whom? There are so many things. Here also, they are feeling the pressure, the so-called swamis, yogis, Gosvāmīs, religious groups, Māyāvādīs...

Hari-śauri: Communists.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Hari-śauri: Communists, too.

Prabhupāda: Communists. That is our success. Everyone is now feeling the pressure. (Bengali) and they are talking (Bengali). In such a short time, so much money, so much expansion, so many devotees, what is this? That is Kṛṣṇa.

Haṁsadūta: Like Vāmanadeva expanded His foot and He covered the...

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes.

Room Conversation -- November 15, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And that is clear. Simple, two words. Unfortunately they want to deny God. They take the place of God, all these Māyāvādīs. Ānandam, mostly. So that is rascaldom. How you can take the position of God?

Mr. Saxena: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: But they want to take the position of God. "Everyone is God. I am God, you are God." This is they are claiming.

Mr. Saxena: Bhagavan Rajneesh.

Prabhupāda: So many rascals. Why Rajneesh? There are many other.

Mr. Saxena: There are others, Satya Sai Baba, and so many others.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Why they did not like?

Caraṇāravindam: It's difficult to say. I think it is envy. The swami who was there...

Prabhupāda: He's a Māyāvādī.

Caraṇāravindam: Yes, he's a Māyāvādī. He did not like it when the other people take an interest in us.

Akṣayānanda: And they see that people are giving us money too. (Prabhupāda laughs) Actually wherever we go, with a few exceptions, wherever we go, after the third day we just suddenly become unwelcome even though we behave all right. The third day is about the limit.

Caraṇāravindam: The one exception is this Gita Bhavan in Indore.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: I will give you practical example. Just like you take red water, colored water. So put into the sea, does this mean that sea becomes red? That little spot may be for the time being. Besides that, merging, this is the philosophy of the Māyāvādīs. Actually that is superficial. Just like a bird, green bird, enters into the green tree. You see that bird is vanished. Because the tree is green and the bird is green, you do not know the separate identification. But the bird is there, separate identification. It is not the bird has become zero. A airplane goes to the sky, after some time you don't find the airplane. That doesn't mean the airplane has no more identity, separate. It is separate. It is your defective eyes that you cannot see, that it has got separate existence. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that, "I, you and all these kings who are assembled here, we existed in the past, we are now existing, and we shall exist in the future." That means individual existence will continue. He explains past, present and future. So where is imagination?

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Politics. Senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta. Senayor ubhayor madhye. (BG 1.21) "Between the two soldiers, keep my chariot, my dear Acyuta." He is addressing Acyuta. Acyuta, Kṛṣṇa, agreed to become his chariot driver. Therefore he is purposefully using this word acyuta. "Because I know You are the Supreme Lord, and I am ordering You, but because You promised that You will carry my order, Acyuta, You never fail in Your word." So God's another name is Acyuta. God never falls down. This Māyāvādī theory that "I am God, now I am fallen down," That is wrong theory. How God can fall down? If God falls down He is not God. Dog falls down, not the God.

Mr. Malhotra: How can he be supreme if he can fall down?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Chandra Swami? So why...?

Guest (4): He's a young man.

Prabhupāda: He must be Māyāvādī. He's taking advantage of this. He's a Māyāvādī.

Guest (4): He's a man who is following Tantric.

Prabhupāda: So what is this nonsense. This should not be... He should not accompany. He's taking advantage of it.

Guest (4): He's also directly associated with the Prime Minister, this young man. Chandra Swami.

Dr. Patel: The Prime Minister is the greatest Māyāvādī.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. Māyāvādī means māyā has taken his knowledge. māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. 99% they are Māyāvādīs.

Guest (4): Swamiji, what about missionaries who are working in India who are coming from abroad and they are actually exploiting. If they put a charge against our institution, well, we can definitely say that we are motivating the intellect to take into the higher stage of life. Here the missionaries who come, they go in the backward areas and those who are not learned, those who are practically uneducated... I mean, their mission is to convert them in Christianity. You see, that charge is rather more grave than the particular one which they have leveled against us. You see, we can put that argument, isn't it? How many Hindus are converted into Christianity. We are not converting them, we are just...

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, He is the... So He can speak what is Vedānta. And unless one accepts this Vedānta, he's not a Vedāntist. Therefore some of our Vaiṣṇava friends, they have given me this title, Bhaktivedanta. In 1947, something, they, purposefully, they gave me the title that Vedānta means bhakti. "So you take this title, Bhaktivedanta." And we are preaching this Vedānta, that the ultimate platform of Veda, knowledge, is to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). So he's person, he's speaking. So not that the Māyāvādīs, they take that paratattva is the nirākāra-brahman. But that is not paratattva. Here the person says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). So if you have to accept Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority, then Vedānta means, He says also, to know Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, it is not anta, it may be middle, it may be beginning, but not anta.

Press Interview -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There are two sections, the impersonalist and the personalist. The personalists are the Vaiṣṇavas, and the impersonalists are the Māyāvādīs. So far the spiritual life is concerned, there is no difference. There is no difference. Just like Śaṅkara. Śaṅkarācārya said that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. The spiritual life is reality. And this is nonreality. But we say that this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Kṛṣṇa said. We are follower of Kṛṣṇa. "This is a place of suffering. And if you come to Me then your suffering ends." So this world is condemned either by Śaṅkarācārya, or others, everyone. But the modern rascals, they have taken this world as everything. Therefore they are in ignorance. Do you follow? They have taken this world, this life of fifty years or sixty years, at most hundred years, as reality. These rascals have no knowledge that we have life after annihilation of this body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Who knows it? Bring big, big men, big, big politician.