So there are five kinds of liberation. Sāyujya, the first liberation is supposed to be sāyujya, means, to become one with the Supreme. The Māyāvāda philosophers, monists, they aspire after sāyujya-mukti. But the devotees, Vaiṣṇavas, they do not aspire after sāyujya-mukti. Their, for them, there are other, four kinds of mukti: sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya. And those who are still further advanced, they do not want any kind of mukti, neither of these five kinds of muktis. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He prays, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is pure devotional prayer. The devotees does not approach the Supreme for any material gain. Pure devotion means without any aspiration of any kind of material gain. Or even spiritual gain.
Monist (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Therefore, those who are predominated, their duty is to satisfy the predominator, and when the predominator is satisfied, both the predominator and the predominated gets the equal result.
So the Vaiṣṇava philosophy is... They want to remain predominated by the supreme predominator. And the Māyāvāda philosophy, the monists, they want to merge into the predominator. Their idea is to become themselves predominator. When they fail to become predominator in this material world... We are all trying to become predominator. Everyone is trying. Bhoktā. "I shall..." Competition is going on. You are predominator, say, for one thousands of worker or office clerk. Your office is so big. So I want to make my office bigger than you. So I want to become greater predominator than you. This is our competition, is going on. But none of us is actually predominator.
Suppose I am proprietor of New York State, but still, I am different from New York State. These things are to be carefully analyzed. Those who are monists, they say, "everything one." How you can say one? How you can say one? In every step different. In every step different. This is dvaita-vāda, duality. So this philosophy of Lord Caitanya, that simultaneously one and different, that is the perfect philosophy. Nobody can say that we are completely different from God, and nobody can say we are completely one with God. We are both, one and different. These things are to be understood analytically like this, as it is explained here. This is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. If you try to understand Kṛṣṇa and your position in such nice analytical way from authoritative sources, then at once you become free from all sinful activities. This process.
Two birds are sitting in one tree. One is eating the fruit of the tree and other is simply witnessing. The witnessing bird is Kṛṣṇa. And the bird who is eating the fruits of the tree, he is the living entity. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot distinguish between the jīva soul, jīvātmā, and Paramātmā. They know it, but because they are monists, to establish their theory, they say there is no two, there is one. No. Kṛṣṇa says two. One kṣetrajñaḥ, the jīvātmā, and the other kṣetrajñaḥ He is, Kṛṣṇa. The difference between the two is that the individual living entity knows only about his kṣetra, body, but the other living entity, the supreme living entity, He knows all the bodies, everywhere, anywhere, throughout the whole creation. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo (BG 15.15). This is the difference.
The idea is that a bhakta does not require any material happiness or distress. He does not require any monistic proposition to merge into the existence of the Supreme. And neither he desires any jugglery of aṣṭa-siddhi yoga. So in order to become devatā, not to become asura... Asuras are always against Kṛṣṇa. There are many examples like Rāvaṇa, and Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaṁsa. There are many. So we should remember that devatā means who is fully surrendered to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. So there are many symptoms of the asuras. They are all described in the Sixteenth Chapter. It requires a long time to discuss. It is not possible to discuss all the symptoms. But one of the most important symptom of the asura is here described, asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8).
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Dvandva. And moha, and illusion. And except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everything is moha, illusion, except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all illusion.
So these things are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām, te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā (BG 7.28). Duality. Actually, we are monists. We do not know anything except Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādīs, they say they are monists, but they're dualists. They say, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Why? Wherefrom the jagat come? If Brahman is satya, if the Absolute Truth is truth, then janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), this world has emanated from the Absolute Truth. Then how it can be untruth? Does it mean that truth produces untruth? This is the defect of Māyāvāda philosophy. They are not actually monists. They are dualists. They are distinguishing Brahman and māyā. But we say that only Kṛṣṇa. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). Māyā is the servant of Kṛṣṇa.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "This prakṛti, this māyā, this material energy, is acting under My superintendence, under My guidance."
So we don't accept this material nature as final. We have Kṛṣṇa on the background, that He is, only, the master. So therefore we are monists. Simply we know Kṛṣṇa and everything emanating from Kṛṣṇa. That is described everywhere. In the Brahma-saṁhitā the same truth is... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). This material energy is called Durgā, but she is so powerful... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti.... She can create wonderful things. She can maintain wonderful things. She can dissolve wonderful things, so powerful, but she is acting under the direction... Chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā. Chāyeva. Just like shadow moves by the movement of the reality, similarly, this material nature is working under the direction of the Supreme.
So that is eternal. That's a fact. But we are not only eternal... Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), and His bodily effulgence, that is only eternal part. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda. So these three things are required. Simply eternity is not good. There must be knowledge and ānanda. So this monist theory, Advaitavāda, eternity, that may be achieved. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa, by severe penances and austerities, they can be attained. But patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. That is the statement of Bhāgavata. They again fall down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. They could not get the information of the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Without taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, they fall down again. Patanty adhaḥ. Again.
Devotee:
- namo 'kiñcana vittāya
- nivṛtta-guṇa-vṛttaye
- ātmārāmāya śāntāya
- kaivalya-pataye namaḥ
- (SB 1.8.27)
"My obeisances are unto You, who are the property of the materially impoverished. You have nothing to do with the actions and reaction of the material modes of nature. You are self-satisfied, and therefore You are the most gentle and are master of the monists."
Prabhupāda: So namaḥ akiñcana-vittāya. Materially impoverished. This is the first qualification of a devotee. One who does not possess anything of this material world, he simply possess Kṛṣṇa. That is akiñcana-vitta. Akiñcana means one who has lost everything of material possession. Because if you have got a, a small tinge of idea that "I want to become happy materially in this way," so long you have to accept a body.
Because Kṛṣṇa has no difference between body and self. He's simply self, spirit soul. So we have got now this body and self. I am self, but I possess this body. Then when actually we become dependent on Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa is self-satisfied, similarly we can be also self-satisfied with Kṛṣṇa. Kaivalya, kaivalya-pataye namaḥ. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they, monists, they want to become one with the Supreme. As Supreme is self-satisfied, they also want to be self-satisfied by becoming one with the Supreme. Our philosophy is also the same, kaivalya. But we depend on Kṛṣṇa. We do not become one with, one with Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness. If we simply agree to abide by the order of Kṛṣṇa, there is no disagreement, that is oneness.
So aja... We are also aja because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And nitya. Nityaḥ śāśva... Ajo nityaḥ. Nitya... The Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree. When a green bird enters a green tree it appears that the green bird is now merged and he, it has no more existence. No. That is not... One can understand. The bird enters into the green tree does not mean the bird has lost his existence. His individuality is still there. Similarly, when we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact.
The same thing. There is no difference between the life of the insect... Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that, that the, these big, big demigods... Yat kāruṇya-katākṣa-vaibhavavatām. There is a verse. I just now forget it. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that kaivalya, the impersonalists' theory of becoming one, monist, with the Absolute... That is called kaivalya. So he says: kaivalyaṁ narakāyate: "For a devotee who has got little favor of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for him, this kaival ya-sukha, happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is as good as the hell." Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means where thirty-three millions of demigods live, heavenly planets. It is something like phantasmagoria, ākāśa-puṣpa, which has... Just like in Bengal they say, jokingly, ghoṛā ḍim. Ghoṛā ḍim means a ghoṛā, a horse, never gives eggs. It is fantastics. It is not possible. Similarly, these heavenly planets, for a Vaiṣṇava, is ghoṛā ḍim.
The whole situation there is one of freedom from the illusory manifestation of the external energy. Although the illusory energy is also a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, still, illusory energy is differentiated from the Lord. The illusory energy is not, however, false, as claimed by the monist philosophers. The rope accepted as a snake may be an illusion to a particular person, but the rope is a fact, and the snake is also a fact. The illusion of water on the hot desert may be an illusion for the ignorant animal searching out water in the desert. But the desert and water are actual facts. Therefore the material creation of the Lord may be an illusion to the nondevotee class of men, but to a devotee, even the material creation of the Lord is a fact, as the manifestation of His external energy. But this energy of the Lord is not all.
And the jñānīs, they are hankering after to become one with the Supreme. They have experienced that even the standard of material happiness available in the heavenly planets, that also did not give them complete satisfaction. So they aspire to become one with the Supreme, that "That will give me happiness. I become one with..." Monist. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am one with Brahman." So that is also hankering. Mukti. Mukti means liberation from this material unhappiness and come to the spiritual happiness, "I am Brahman. I am the same Supreme," thinking, concoction, like that. So there is also hankering. And siddhi, yogis, they want many perfection: aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti-siddhi, prākāmya, īśitā, vaśitā. There are eight kinds of yogic siddhi. You can become smaller than the smallest, you can become bigger than the biggest, you can become lighter than the lightest, you can get anything you like immediately. These are some of the yoga-siddhis. But this is also hankering.
We are also one of the varieties. So how we can become variety-less, nirviśeṣa? That is not possible. Even artificially we try to become nirviśeṣa, variety-less, our constitutional position is that we want variety. How it can be stopped? Therefore in the śāstra it is said, the so-called Māyāvādī, impersonalist, monist, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32), although they get up to the position of oneness, monist, but from that position they fall down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they have no information of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, where to enjoy ānanda, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), and they are by nature seeking after ānanda, this so-called oneness, monism, that will not please them. They will require again ānanda.
Therefore those who are advanced devotee, for them, there is nothing material; everything is Kṛṣṇa. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti (CC Madhya 8.274). Actually, a Vaiṣṇava is factually monist because he does not see anything except Kṛṣṇa. Anything he sees, he will think, "This is Kṛṣṇa's energy." So why it is not Kṛṣṇa? So Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: (BG 9.4) "I am expanded everywhere." Avyakta-mūrtinā. Avyakta means not manifest. He is in the fire. He is in the water. He is in the land. He is in the sky—everywhere. He is in the mind. He is in intelligence. He is soul. He's part and So Kṛṣṇa is everywhere; simply you have to make your eyes how to see Him. That is required. That is prema. Premāṇjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38).
Everyone knows. But if a demon is killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes liberated, either demon or anyone. Demons are generally killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They enter into the impersonal Brahman. Therefore there is a verse—I don't remember exactly now—that "The monist and the demons, they go to the same place, impersonal Brahman." And what to speak of devotees? Devotees never enter to that impersonal Brahman. Devotees enter directly in the Vaikuṇṭha planet. Mām eti. Mām eti. Kṛṣṇa said, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāmaṁ paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). If you enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets... There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and above them there is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. So in either of them, if you enter, then that is not impersonal. Personal. Impersonal Brahman is outside.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Sometimes the example is given that as the rivers glide down to the ocean and the water is become one... That's all right. That oneness... This is impersonal conception. Everyone goes and mixes as every river goes down to the ocean, and there is no more distinction which is the river water and which is the ocean water. They become one. That is the monistic philosophy. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy goes farther, that "Why you are satisfied with the water? Why don't you see within the water?" Within the water you will find there are big, big fishes and aquatic animals. They keep their separate identity, and they enjoy in the ocean. The foolish persons, they are satisfied that "I am in the ocean now." That is the less intelligence. Go deep into the ocean and see what is going there. Similarly, those who are satisfied simply by merging into the spiritual existence, impersonalists, they are less intelligent.
"This is māyā and this is Brahman"; therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. Simply, what is not Brahman... They say it is one, but simply they distinguish, "This is māyā, this is Brahman." Why this is māyā? They say, wherefrom the māyā comes? Then it becomes dualism actually. 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.
Festival Lectures
There is no... Na caitanyāt kṛṣṇāt para-tattvaṁ param iha. Para-tattvam, the Supreme Truth, is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Supreme Truth is Kṛṣṇa, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Na caitanyāt kṛṣṇāt para-tattvaṁ param iha, yad advaitaṁ brahmopaniṣadi (CC Adi 1.3). The Brahman, advaita, monists' Brahman, which is described in the Upaniṣad, yad, that factor, yad advaita brāhmaṇopaniṣadi, Paramātmā, and the Paramātmā, Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān—this is the three features of the Supreme Absolute Truth.
Initiation Lectures
So everything is simultaneously one and different from the Supreme Lord. But there are two classes of philosophers. One class says that God and the living entities are different, and there is another philosopher, monist philosopher. They say God and the living entities are one. So this acintya-bhedābheda philosophy adjusts that "God and the living creatures, they are simultaneously one and different." They are one in quality, just like the energy and the energetic, the sun globe and the sunshine. In quality, in sunshine there is heat, there is illumination, light. In the sun globe also, there is heat, there is illumination. But the degrees are quite different. You can bear the heat and illumination of the sunshine, but you cannot go to the sun globe or you can bear the heat and temperature there. The scientist says that so many millions miles away, if somebody goes or some planet goes near the sun globe, it will immediately burn into ashes.
They say like this. When there is order of Kṛṣṇa that "You surrender unto Me," the rascals comment, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa but the unborn spirit which is within Kṛṣṇa." He does not know that Kṛṣṇa is not different from His body, Kṛṣṇa is not different from His name, Kṛṣṇa is not different from His fame. Anything pertaining to Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. They are monists, they are philosophizing that oneness, but as soon as they come to Kṛṣṇa, immediately they divide: "Kṛṣṇa is different from His body," or "Kṛṣṇa's body is different from Kṛṣṇa."
So ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. So Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa is not different. Therefore, as soon as my tongue touches the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, that means immediately it associates with Kṛṣṇa.
| Page Title: | Monist (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 07 of Sep, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=22, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 22 |